37&  HERO  of 
STONY  POINT 


TAMFS  BAR  MF 


THE  HERO  OF 
STONY  POINT 


"  'Wayne  aimed  and  fired  one  of  the  field  pieces  himself.'  " 

[PAGE  71] 


THE  HERO  OF 
STONY  POINT 

ANTHONY  WAYNE 


BY 

JAMES  BARNES 


AUTHOB   Or  "BIFLJ5  AND  CABAVAV,"   "GIANT   OF   THBEE   WAB8,"  '*TBB 
OF   EBIE,"   ETC. 


HiTJSTRATED  BT 
T.  DE  THULSTBUP 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK  LONDON 

1916 


COPTBIOHT,  1916,  BT 

to.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


CONTENTS 


I.  SCHOOL  DAYS  AT  CHESTER— THE  FIGHTING 

DUNCE 1 

II.  THE  GREAT  SNOW  FIGHT        ...        .        .14 

III.  THE  PRELUDE  TO  GREAT  DEEDS      ...      22 

IV.  COLONEL  WAYNE  AT  TROIS  RIVIERES        .        .      32 
V.  ANTHONY  WAYNE  ASKS  FOR  ACTION      .        .      45 

VI.  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  '77     .       .        .       .        .58 

VII.  FROM  WHITEHORSE  TAVERN  TO  GERMANTOWN      72 

VIII.  VALLEY  FORGE  AND  THE  LONG  DARK  DAYS    .      85 

IX.  REAR  GUARD  FIGHTING  AND  MONMOUTH        .      98 

X.  THE  CLIMAX— STONY  POINT  .       .        .        .    113 

XL  WAYNE  WINS  THE  DISAFFECTED    9  .     ^       .    128 

XII.  LEADING  UP  TO  YORK-TOWN     .       .        .        .    142 

XIII.  IN  THE  SOUTH       .   •    ;       .       .       .       .150 

XIV.  THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 160 

XV.  CALLED  BACK  TO  THE  ARMY    .        .        .        .177 

XVI.  FIGHTING  THE  NORTHERN  SAVAGES         .        .    184 

XVII.  THE  GOVERNMENT  COMMISSIONER  AND  CON- 
CLUSION      201 


2134355 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

"Wayne  aimed  and  fired  one  of  the  field  pieces  him- 
self"          Frontispiece 

PACIKQ  PAGE 

"The  great  snow  fight" 16 

"  'Forward,  my  brave  fellows,  forward !' "  .        .        .122 
"The  treaty  with  the  Indians" 202 


THE  HERO 
OF  STONY  POINT 


CHAPTER  I 

SCHOOL  DAYS  AT  CHESTER— THE  FIGHTING 
DUNCE 

A  SMALL  boy  of  eleven  sat  on  the  end  of 
a  newly  felled  log  in  a  clearing  of  the 
Chester  woods.  He  was  a  sturdily  built,  thick- 
set youngster  whose  appearance  would  have  lit- 
tle suggested  the  occupation  at  which  we  find 
him.  With  compressed  lips  and  a  deal  of  squint- 
ing he  was  trying  to  force  through  the  eye  of  a 
much  too  small  needle  the  end  of  a  much  too 
large  thread.  After  many  trials,  pursued  with 
an  infinite  patience,  he  succeeded.  On  the  log  be- 
side him  lay  two  strips  of  red  cloth.  Tucked 
into  the  edge  of  his  small  three-cornered  hat, 
was  a  bundle  of  turkey  feathers  that  only  a 
half  an  hour  before  had  been  proudly  spread 
1 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

by  the  old  gobbler,  who,  panting  and  much  di- 
sheveled, was  hiding  in  an  angle  of  the  chicken 
yard  fence  a  few  rods  away.  The  boy  had  had 
his  eyes  on  the  tail  feathers  for  many  a  long 
day  and  had  waited  for  the  moment  when,  with- 
out fear  of  interference,  he  could  despoil  the 
old  gobbler  of  his  principal  adornment. 

"With  remarkable  skill  the  boy  began  to  sew 
the  feathers  between  the  strips  of  red  cloth,  and 
having  basted  them  in  so  they  stood  firmly  up- 
right, he  measured  the  band  round  his  head, 
sewed  the  two  ends  together  and,  going  down  to 
a  pool  in  the  brook,  looked  at  his  reflection  with 
all  the  self-satisfaction  of  a  Narcissus.  Going 
back  to  the  log  where  he  had  left  his  coat  and 
hat,  he  discovered  that  there  was  a  rent  in  his 
coat  sleeve;  sitting  down,  he  mended  it  neatly 
before  putting  it  on. 

Although  incongruous,  the  Indian-like  decora- 
tion became  the  boy's  face  better  than  the  old 
three-cornered  hat,  for  he  had  the  high  cheek 
bone,  the  deep-set  eyes  of  the  red  man,  and  his 
little  hawk-like  features  needed  but  to  be  a 
shade  or  two  darker  than  the  coat  of  tan  that 
2 


SCHOOL  DAYS  AT  CHESTER 

covered  them,  to  make  him,  to  all  appearances, 
a  juvenile  member  of  the  Seven  Nations. 

Carrying  his  hat  under  his  arm,  he  walked 
along  the  path  through  the  blackberry  bushes, 
heading  past  the  chicken  yard  where  the  hen 
turkeys  had  not  yet  settled  down  from  the  ex- 
citement they  had  undergone  in  witnessing  the 
struggle  and  discomfiture  of  their  lord  and 
master.  Beaching  a  barn  and  stable  made  of 
rough  hewn  logs,  the  boy  bent  down  and,  lifting 
aside  an  old  barrel-head,  disclosed  a  hiding- 
place  in  the  stone  foundation.  It  was  here  that 
he  kept  the  things  most  near  and  dear  to  him ; 
a  bow  whittled  out  of  a  hickory  limb,  a  bundle 
of  cleverly  made  arrows,  and  an  actual  Indian 
tomahawk  that  had  freen  given  to  him  by  a  man 
who  had  made  a  trading  trip  out  into  the  great 
western  forests.  The  boy  carefully  deposited 
the  head-dress  with  his  other  treasures,  then 
hastening  round  the  corner  of  the  barn  he  ran 
through  the  garden  toward  the  large  stone 
farmhouse  owned  by  his  father,  who,  on  this 
day,  had  been  away  attending  court  down  at 
Chester — an  absence  which,  to  tell  the  truth, 
3 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

was  one  of  the  main  reasons  for  the  raid  on  the 
old  gobbler. 

The  reason  for  the  boy's  running  was  the  fact 
that  down  the  road  that  stretched  in  front  of 
the  farmhouse,  he  had  discerned  a  figure  on 
horseback  coming  along  at  a  steady  trot.  As 
rather  breathlessly  he  entered  the  back  door 
the  rider  dismounted  at  the  front  veranda. 
The  two  met  in  the  long  hallway. 

"Well,  Anthony,  my  son,"  said  the  tall,  well- 
set-up  man  as  he  looked  down  with  a  quizzical 
smile,  "have  you  lost  anything?" 

"No,  father,"  replied  the  boy,  "not  that  I 
know  of." 

Isaac  Wayne  took  something  from  under  his 
arm. 

"I  found  your  school  books  'tother  side  of 
the  road  near  your  Uncle  Gilbert's  house;  I 
did  not  know  whether  you  had  dropped 
them." 

"I  left  them  there,"  said  the  boy  frankly.  "I 
was  going  to  return  and  get  them,  sir." 

"Too  heavy  to  carry  home,  Anthony?" 

"No,  father,  but  old  Jess  started  a  rabbit 
4 


SCHOOL  DAYS  AT  CHESTER 

by  the  side  of  the  road  and  we  chased  it  down 
by  the  edge  of  the  clearing.  I  dropped  the 
books  there." 

Mr.  Wayne  opened  a  copy  book,  very  ragged 
and  dog-eared.  ' '  Will  you  tell  me,  my  son,  what 
is  the  meaning  of  all  this?" 

He  pointed  to  a  page  covered  with  lines  and 
strange  markings. 

"Just  a  plan,  sir,"  the  boy  replied,  fidgeting 
a  little,  although  he  was  looking  his  father 
straight  in  the  face. 

"A  plan  of  what?" 

"Of  a  battle,  father." 

"And  when  and  where  was  this  battle?" 

"It  has  not  been  fought  yet,  sir.  I  was  just 
making  it  up." 

Mr.  Wayne  closed  the  book  with  a  smile  that 
quite  belied  the  seeming  sternness  of  his  next 
words. 

"If  you  spent  more  time  over  your  books  and 
less  in  dreaming,  you  would  make  a  more  useful 
citizen,  Anthony.  I  don't  want  you  to  grow  up 
a  know-nothing." 

"I'd  like  to  be  useful,  sir." 
5 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

"Well,"  replied  Mr.  Wayne,  "go  out  in  the 
pasture  and  bring  in  the  cows.  I'll  take  you 
at  your  word  if  I  have  to  make  a  farmer  of 
you!" 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  the  boy,  and  went  out  of 
the  house. 

Young  Anthony  Wayne  came  quite  naturally 
by  any  leaning  toward  military  dreaming;  his 
grandfather  had  been  a  soldier  and  his  father 
had  fought  in  the  campaigns  against  the  In- 
dians in  Western  Pennsylvania  and  the  borders 
of  what  is  now  Tennessee.  It  was  in  1722  that 
Anthony  Wayne,  the  grandfather  of  our  hero, 
had  moved  from  Ireland  to  Chester,  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  was  a  man  of  great  independence  of 
character,  as  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  had 
left  behind  him  a  very  good  country  estate  in 
County  Wicklow,  because  he  did  not  like  the 
way  the  Irish  peasantry  had  been  treated  after 
the  defeat  of  the  forces  of  King  James  the 
Second  by  those  of  King  William.  With  this 
military  emigrant  came  his  wife  and  four  sons. 
Three  of  the  sons  settled  quite  close  to  one 
another  on  the  Pennsylvania  uplands,  where 
6 


SCHOOL  DAYS  AT  CHESTER 

their  father  was  the  owner  of  sixteen  hundred 
acres.  The  site  of  the  old  homestead  is  now 
the  site  of  Waynesboro  that  has  perpetuated 
the  family  name,  but  it  is  by  no  means  the  only 
place  where  it  is  to  be  found  on  the  map.  His 
youngest  son,  Isaac,  possessed  more  of  his 
father 's  character  than  the  others,  who  seemed 
content  to  take  up  the  quiet  life  of  farmers  or 
the  sedentary  occupation  of  a  schoolmaster, 
which  was  followed  by  Gilbert.  When  the  elder 
Anthony  died  he  divided  his  estate  among  the 
three  sons  that  survived  him,  and  to  Isaac  fell 
the  best  of  the  farms.  Isaac  had  married  the 
daughter  of  Richard  Iddings,  who  was  also  a 
wealthy  land  owner  in  the  same  county  of  Ches- 
ter. Elizabeth  Wayne  was  a  woman  of  remark- 
able character. 

Having  thus  introduced  the  younger'  An- 
thony's forebears,  let  us  take  up  his  life  at  the 
very  interesting  period  when  he  began  to  de- 
velop individualities  of  his  own.  There  were 
many  of  the  neighbors'  sons  who  also  went  to 
school  at  " Uncle  Gilbert's"  and  many  of  these 
scholars  were  to  be  closely  associated  in  the 
7 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

stirring  and  troublous  times  in  the  wars  that 
were  to  come. 

A  short  time,  perhaps  it  might  have  been  only 
a  week  or  so,  after  his  father  had  found  his 
school  books  in  the  lane,  Anthony,  known  to 
his  comrades  outside  of  school  hours  as  "Sha- 
bo-na" — the  Gray  Fox — and  the  best  shot  with 
a  hickory  bow  of  all  the  tribes  that  he  himself 
had  organized,  sat  on  a  stool  in  the  corner  of 
the  schoolhouse,  looking  as  little  like  an  Indian 
chief  as  any  small  boy  could  look.  Instead  of 
the  crown  of  feathers  on  his  head  he  had  a 
conical  ornament  made  of  ordinary  brown  pa- 
per, on  which  was  printed  very  legibly,  in  his 
Uncle  Gilbert's  back  hand,  the  word,  " Dunce." 
But  if  the  position  was  ignominious  it  cannot  be 
said  that  Anthony's  demeanor  was  in  the  least 
humble.  From  under  the  edge  of  the  tight- 
fitting  paper  rim  he  surveyed  his  schoolmates 
with  a  look  of  defiance,  if  not  of  open  challenge. 

He  held  not  the  slightest  resentment  toward 

his  Uncle  Gilbert,  for  he  was  perfectly  aware 

that  the  punishment  he  was  undergoing,  if  such 

it  could  be  called,  was  well  earned,  but  there  was 

8 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

a  comforting  thought  in  his  mind — and  in  the 
schoolmaster's  also — that  he  did  not  care  for 
study  j  the  dead  languages  did  not  appeal  to  him 
and  he  had  fully  decided  that  so  far  as  he  was 
concerned  the  longer  they  stayed  dead  the  bet- 
ter. At  figuring,  when  Anthony  had  cared  to 
apply  himself,  he  was  as  good  as  any  boy  in 
school.  There  were  few  popular  histories  in 
those  days  and  juvenile  literature  was  confined 
mostly  to  rather  stupid  tales  that  pointed  ob- 
vious morals  or  trite  advice  as  to  conduct, 
habits,  and  spiritual  training.  There  was 
hardly  a  book,  however,  in  his  father's  library 
that  dealt  with  anything  military  that  Anthony 
had  not  read  from  cover  to  cover. 

There  were  sixteen  boys  in  Gilbert  Wayne's 
school,  the  eldest  being  but  fourteen.  At  four- 
teen the  days  of  instruction  practically  ceased, 
except  for  those  lads  whose  fathers  were 
wealthy  enough  to  send  them  to  one  of  the  col- 
leges or  academies  in  the  larger  towns  where 
the  learned  professions  were  taught.  Anthony 
Wayne's  father  was  well  to  do  and  he  had  con- 
ceived some  ambitions  in  regard  to  his  son's 
9 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

career,  but  often  the  boy  had  puzzled  him,  as 
he  was  now  puzzling  schoolmaster  Gilbert,  who 
had  his  own  ideas  of  disciplining  his  young 
charges.  He  was  one  of  the  few  schoolmasters 
who  did  not  believe  in  the  use  of  the  rod  and 
never  had  he  lifted  his  hand  in  chastisement, 
even  for  breaches  of  behavior  that  deserved 
strenuous  handling. 

When  the  school  was  dismissed,  this  day,  the 
boys  trooped  forth ;  one  of  them,  Peter  Iddings, 
a  distant  connection  of  Anthony's  on  his  moth- 
er's side,. came  out  last,  holding  something  be- 
hind his  back.  It  was  the  duncecap  that  had 
so  lately  adorned  our  Hero 's  brow.  Beneath  the 
humiliating  label  he  had  found  time  to  print  the 
words,  "Anthony  Wayne,  His  Hat."  With 
some  ceremony  he  presented  it  to  its  late 
wearer.  No  champion's  gauntlet  thrown  in 
challenge  ever  produced  a  quicker  result.  The 
small  boy  flew  at  Iddings  like  a  tiger  cat.  It 
was  a  battle  that  had  long  been  pending  between 
the  two  and  it  was  interrupted  by  the  appear- 
ance of  the  schoolmaster,  who  dragged  the 
somewhat  disheveled  and  bleeding  belligerents 
10 


SCHOOL  DAYS  AT  CHESTER 

apart  and,  contrary  to  his  custom,  cuffed  each 
one  soundly  and  leading  them  back  into  the 
schoolhouse,  gave  them  a  long  talk  on  the  bene- 
fits of  peace  in  general.  But,  as  it  is  with 
nations,  so  it  is  with  individuals;  it  is  some- 
times better  to  have  it  out  to  a  finish,  for  smol- 
dering fires  are  more  dangerous  than  fully  ex- 
tinguished ashes.  Under  the  big  red  oak  tree 
within  half  an  hour  of  the  schoolmaster's  hom- 
ily they  were  at  it  again.  It  was  a  prolonged 
and  bitter  struggle  and  ended  in  the  younger 
boy  extracting  from  his  fallen  antagonist  the 
smothered  sentence,  "I've  got  enough. "  The 
fight  established  Anthony's  prestige  in  the 
school.  No  duncecap  as  a  bit  of  personal  prop- 
erty is  a  disgrace  to  a  champion  fighter,  and 
Sha-bo-na  was  established  as  one  who  not  only 
must  be  listened  to  in  council  but  respected  on 
the  battlefield. 

The  scholarship,  however,  did  not  improve, 
for  it  was  about  this  time  that  Uncle  Gilbert 
indited  the  following  letter,  which  was  handed 
to  Mr.  Wayne  by  no  less  a  faithful  messenger 
than  his  son: — 

11 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

"I  really  suspect,"  says  Gilbert,  "that  pa- 
rental affection  blinds  you;  and  that  you  have 
mistaken  your  son's  capacity.  What  he  may 
be  best  qualified  for,  I  know  not;  but  one  thing 
I  am  certain  of,  that  he  will  never  make  a 
scholar.  He  may  make  a  soldier ;  he  has  already 
distracted  the  brains  of  two-thirds  of  the  boys, 
under  my  direction,  by  rehearsals  of  battles  and 
sieges,  etc.  They  exhibit  more  the  appearance 
of  Indians  and  harlequins  than  of  students ;  this 
one,  decorated  with  a  cap  of  many  colors ;  and 
others,  habited  in  coats  as  variegated  as  Jo- 
seph's of  old;  some,  laid  up  with  broken  heads, 
and  others  with  black  eyes.  During  noon,  in 
place  of  the  usual  games  and  amusements,  he 
has  the  boys  employed  in  throwing  up  redoubts, 
skirmishing,  etc.  I  must  be  candid  with  you, 
brother  Isaac:  unless  Anthony  pays  more  at- 
tention to  his  books,  I  shall  be  under  the  painful 
necessity  of  dismissing  him  from  the  school." 

Isaac  Wayne  finished  the  letter  without  lift- 
ing his  eyes  to  the  face  of  the  boy  who,  slightly 
flushed,  was  standing  beside  him  at  the  old 
mahogany  desk  in  his  father's  office.  When  he 
12 


SCHOOL  DAYS  AT  CHESTER 

had  finished,  without  comment,  the  father 
handed  the  letter  to  the  boy.  As  the  latter  read, 
his  chin  trembled  a  little  but  he  stood  all  the 
straighter.  He  knew  that  his  father  had  been 
touched  in  his  most  vulnerable  part — his  pride. 
For  a  father's  affections  differ  from  those  of 
a  mother,  who,  no  matter  what  her  child  may 
do,  still  has  her  heart  and  her  arms  open  and 
her  forgiveness  ready  before  it  is  asked  for.  A 
father's  love  depends  largely  on  his  pride  and 
his  trust.  It  is  reflective,  as  a  mother's  is  in- 
stinctive. 

As  Anthony  placed  the  letter  back  in  his 
father's  outstretched  fingers  he  waited  for  what 
might  be  coming.  Was  it  to  be  a  punishment — a 
restriction  of  privileges?  His  father  was  a  man 
of  few  words — that  the  boy  knew  well — but  he 
could  make  every  word  a  stinging  blow,  harder 
to  bear  than  bodily  chastisement.  The  only 
thing  the  elder  Wayne  said  was  this : 

"It's  in  your  hands,  my  boy." 

"Then  give  it  to  me,  father;  let  me  keep  it 
until  I  can  hand  you  another  one." 

There  was  no  more  said,  . 
13 


CHAPTER  n 

THE  GREAT  SNOW  FIGHT 

IT  was  a  very  early  winter — that  of  1759 — one 
long  remembered  for  the  depth  of  the  snow- 
fall that  by  the  end  of  November  covered  the 
hills.  Back  at  Gilbert  Wayne's  school  were 
the  same  boys  grown  a  little  taller  and  heavier. 
One  of  them  had  changed  in  more  than  appear- 
ance. From  the  very  first  lesson  of  the  term 
Anthony  Wayne  had  shown  that  he  had  every 
intention  of  carrying  out  his  promise  to  his 
father.  So  marked  was  this  improvement  that 
before  a  month  had  gone  by  Isaac  Wayne  had 
been  informed  that  there  was  no  fear  of  his 
son's  ability  to  learn;  the  boy's  ambitions  had 
been  awakened.  To  remain  on  a  farm  and  to 
do  the  physical  drudgery  and  to  undergo  the 
actual  hardships  of  the  pioneer  farmer,  was 
something  that  Anthony  did  not  care  to  look 
forward  to.  He  would  have  jumped  at  the  op- 
14 


THE  GREAT  SNOW  FIGHT 

portunity  to  enter  the  Army  or  Navy,  but  very 
few  of  the  sons  of  the  Colonists  at  that  time  en- 
tered the  service  of  the  mother  country,  and  of 
either  Army  or  Navy  in  the  proper  sense  the 
Colonies  possessed  none.  Anthony  was  work- 
ing toward  a  definite  ambition,  for  without  say- 
ing anything  to  anybody  he  had  chosen  his  pro- 
fession. There  was  plenty  of  employment  for 
civil  engineers,  for  the  country  was  in  a  slow 
process  'of  development  and  an  engineer  who 
had  besides  his  technical  skill  a  reputation  for 
good  judgment  and  integrity  was  sure  of  both 
honorable  and  remunerative  employment.  The 
life,  also,  was  in  the  open  and  had  in  it  the  ele- 
ment of  adventure.  And  this  possibly  influ- 
enced young  Wayne  as  much  as  anything  else 
in  making  his  choice.  But  before  he  left  his 
Uncle  Gilbert  he  had  a  splendid  opportunity 
to  prove  that  he  did,  undoubtedly,  possess  the 
gift  of  leadership. 

In  the  middle  of  the  winter  the  only  other 
school  in  Chester  was  disbanded  on  account  of 
the  sudden  death  of  the  schoolmaster.    And  Gil- 
bert Wayne  found  the  numbers  of  his  scholars 
15 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

exactly  doubled.    He  was  forced  to  take  on  an 
assistant  to  aid  him  in  his  teaching. 

The  new  boys,  of  course,  held  together  and 
brought  with  them  the  reflex  of  their  previous 
companionship.  Gilbert's  scholars,  of  which 
young  Wayne  was  now  the  leader,  naturally 
held  together  also,  and  the  result  was  many 
clashes;  even  the  discipline  of  the  classroom 
hardly  prevented  them  at  the  outset  from  show- 
ing this  feeling  of  antagonism.  In  front  of 
the  old  schoolhouse  the  boys  had  built  a  large 
snow  fort,  and  on  coming  to  school  one  morn- 
ing, the  followers  of  the  Gray  Fox  discovered 
that  by  some  preconcerted  arrangement  the  new 
boys  held  possession.  They  had  laid  in  a  large 
supply  of  snowballs  soaked  well  in  water,  and 
hard  as  ice  could  freeze.  Every  attempt  of  the 
late  comers  to  approach  the  school  was  with 
volleys  of  these  missiles.  When  Anthony 
Wayne  arrived  he  found  his  companions  hold- 
ing back  at  the  edge  of  the  little  clearing. 
Quickly  he  surveyed  the  field,  and  retiring  out 
of  sight  into  the  pine  trees,  laid  out  his  plan 
of  battle.  There  was  a  slight  hill  behind  the 
16 


The  great  snow  fight." 


THE  GREAT  SNOW  FIGHT 

schoolhouse  and  half  way  up  a  shed  containing 
an  old  ox  sleigh.  A  brilliant  idea  had  crossed 
the  young  leader 's  mind.  Dividing  his  forces, 
he  directed  Iddings  to  lead  five  boys  by  a  cir- 
cuitous route  over  the  top  of  the  hill  and  take 
possession  of  the  ox  wagon.  It  was  his  inten- 
tion that  they  should  come  coasting  down  upon 
the  rear  of  the  snow  fort,  while  Anthony  and 
his  little  handful  kept  up  a  constant  bombard- 
ment from  the  front,  and  thus  claim  the  enemy's 
attention.  It  required  some  courage  to  face  the 
hard  frozen  ice  balls  while  replying  merely  with 
those  made  of  the  soft  new-packed  snow.  Nev- 
ertheless, despite  bruises,  and  in  fact,  much 
bodily  discomfort,  the  attacking  party  held 
their  ground. 

Suddenly,  there  was  a  shout;  down  the  hiTf 
came  the  ox  wagon,  steered  by  Iddings,  and  with 
such  impetus  did  it  strike  the  snow  fort  that 
it  plowed  through  the  wall,  and  for  an  instant 
it  appeared  to  the  astonished  schoolmaster  as 
if  there  would  be  real  casualties  instead  of  only 
a  few  bruised  elbows  and  blackened  eyes.  As 
the  ox  wagon  struck  the  rampart,  Anthony  led 
17 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

his  own  men  forward  and  the  battle  was  now 
one  of  actual  conflict  with  hands  and  fists.  It 
was  interrupted  by  the  appearance  of  Gilbert 
Wayne  and  his  assistant,  who  had  some  work 
to  tear  the  antagonists  apart. 

Being  a  man  of  peace,  as  he  claimed,  Gilbert 
Wayne  was  also  a  man  of  justice,  and  although 
he  formally  declared  the  action  a  draw,  he  sub- 
sequently drew  Anthony  to  one  side  and  gave 
him  a  private  decision  that  undoubtedly  if  they 
had  been  left  to  fight  it  out  his  own  old  boys 
would  have  proved  the  victors. 

Perhaps  this  little  burst  of  confidence  brought 
the  schoolmaster  and  his  pupil  closer  together 
than  before.  But  it  could  not  have  been  that 
newly  awakened  friendship  that  stirred  Anthony 
entirely.  Back  in  his  mind  was  his  promise  to 
his  father  and  a  growing  determination  to  put 
into  his  hand  a  letter  that  would  entirely  erase 
the  one  which  his  father  had  given  him,  some 
months  before. 

So  well  did  he  hold  to  this  idea  and  so  faith- 
fully did  he  keep  to  his  tasks  that  at  the  end 
of  that  school  year  he  had  made  such  progress 
18 


THE  GREAT  SNOW  FIGHT 

that  Gilbert  Wayne  wrote  the  following  letter 
to  his  brother  Isaac: 

"Anthony  has  so  greatly  improved  in  his 
attention  to  duty,  his  scholarship  and  deport- 
ment, that  I  cannot  speak  of  him  in  too  high 
praise.  His  advancement  has  been  so  rapid 
during  the  past  year  that  he  has  learned  all 
that  I  can  teach  him,  and  I  recommend  that  he 
be  sent  to  an  Academy  where  he  may  follow 
any  natural  bent  he  may  possess." 

This  letter,  which  was  the  second  one  of  its 
character  that  Gilbert  Wayne  had  written,  An- 
thony handed  to  his  father  in  the  little  front 
office  of  the  old  stone  house.  And  then  and 
there  he  told  of  his  ambition  to  take  up  the  call- 
ing of  a  surveyor  and  civil  engineer.  At  the 
Philadelphia  Academy,  to  which  he  was  sent, 
Anthony  kept  up  the  good  record,  and  at  the 
early  age  of  eighteen  was  fully  competent  to 
take  up  the  work  of  setting  boundary  lines, 
running  levels,  and  the  use  of  the  surveyor's 
compass.  Plenty  of  opportunity  came  to  him 
— he  was  always  accurate  and  always  just.  His 
figures  and  his  maps  might  have  been  worked 
19 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

out  and  made  by  a  man  of  many  years'  experi- 
ence. In  1765,  when  only  twenty  years  of  age, 
lie  was  selected  by  the  directors  of  a  company 
that  had  on  its  lists  many  of  the  best  known 
names  in  Pennsylvania,  including,  by  the  way, 
that  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  to  go  to  Nova  Scotia 
and  to  survey  a  large  grant  of  land  that  had 
been  given  the  company  by  the  Crown,  and 
upon  which  it  was  proposed  to  found  a  large 
settlement  and  farming  community.  He  was 
absent  quite  a  year  and  his  maps  and  reports 
were  spoken  of  as  models  of  good  workmanship, 
while  his  advice  and  judgment  were  listened 
to  by  his  elders  and  followed  out  to  the  letter. 
He  was  now  established  and  completely  inde- 
pendent and,  as  was  the  way  of  young  men  in 
those  days  who  were  self-supporting,  he  looked 
for  someone  else  to  support  also.  And  as  soon 
as  he  came  of  age,  in  1766,  he  hied  himself  to 
Philadelphia,  and  after  a  swift  and  victorious 
campaign  so  completely  won  the  affections  of 
the  beautiful  daughter  of  Bartholomew  Pen- 
rose,  that  she  capitulated  after  a  siege  of  seven 
days  and  was  married  also  in  what  was  then 
20 


THE  GREAT  SNOW  FIGHT 

almost  record  time.  But  Anthony  Wayne  was 
one  of  those  impetuous  spirits  with  whom  de- 
cision spelt  action,  and  as  he  had  begun  to  take 
himself  very  seriously,  and  his  whole  life  was 
filled  with  serious  things  and  problems  of  great 
moment,  not  only  to  himself  but  to  his  country, 
it  is  time  perhaps  that  we  take  up  his  life  more 
seriously,  also.  No  man,  perhaps,  has  been 
more  misjudged  than  the  hero  of  Stony  Point. 
The  nickname  of  "Mad  Anthony "  hardly  de- 
scribes him,  although  it  has  been  taken  by 
many  casual  readers  of  history  to  describe  his 
character. 


CHAPTER  HI 
THE  PRELUDE  TO  GREAT  DEEDS 

IN  the  spring  of  1774  Anthony  Wayne  had 
already  been  a  farmer  and  surveyor  for 
eight  years.  At  Waynesboro,  in  the  County  of 
Chester,  he  owned  and  cultivated  an  extensive 
and  well-ordered  farm,  as  well  as  a  large  tan- 
nery. These  were  callings  at  which  a  man  could 
become  wealthy  in  those  days,  and  undoubtedly 
young  Wayne  enjoyed  his  full  share  of  such 
prosperity  as  his  contemporaries  called  wealth. 
He  was,  moreover,  considered  the  most  capable 
surveyor  in  his  region — the  fame  gained  during 
his  brief  experience  in  Nova  Scotia  still  en- 
dured, and  had  gained  him  a  wide  acquaintance ; 
his  decisions  in  boundary  disputes  among  his 
neighbors  were  accepted  as  finalities.  In  addi- 
tion to  all  these  favorable  conditions,  Wayne 
was  also  better  educated  and  possessed  of  a 
wider  knowledge  and  experience  of  life  than 
22 


THE  PRELUDE  TO  GREAT  DEEDS 

his  immediate  associates.  He  was  endowed, 
moreover,  with  a  peculiarly  attractive  person- 
ality that  endeared  him  to  all  and  valuably  as- 
sisted his  leadership  in  all  public  and  com- 
munity activities.  Hence,  it  is  not  remark- 
able that  we  learn  that  he  was  widely  regarded 
as  the  proper  man  to  head  any  general  move- 
ment among  the  people :  he  was  evidently  born 
to  be  a  general — a  fact  early  recognized  by  his 
schoolmaster  uncle. 

With  all  these  advantages,  it  is  to  be  ex- 
pected, perhaps,  that  he  might  display  some  of 
the  weaknesses  common  to  humanity.  We  learn, 
accordingly,  that  he  was  somewhat  vain  in  his 
manner,  rather  extravagant  in  his  dress,  and 
often  given  to  boasting  and  to  large  assump- 
tions. When  we  meet  a  man  addicted  to  habits 
such  as  these  we  suppose,  usually,  that  he  is 
more  capable  in  talking  than  in  doing.  With 
Wayne,  however,  as  with  some  of  the  other 
famous  men  of  history,  it  would  seem  that  the 
high  talk  he  indulged  in  indicated  merely  a  cre- 
ative imagination  and  that  opportunities  for 
action  were  wanting.  So  it  was  that  among  his 
23 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

neighbors  his  boastful  speech  was  taken  quite 
seriously.  In  fact,  people  seemed  always  to 
have  taken  him  "at  his  own  estimate  of  him- 
self. ' '  Nor,  as  subsequent  events  amply  proved, 
were  they  at  all  in  error. 

The  coveted  opportunity  for  action  that  the 
boy  leader  had  so  often  dreamed  of  came  at 
last  in  the  exciting  times  just  before  the  out- 
break of  the  American  Revolution.  It  was  then 
that  his  ability  to  do  came  to  be  fully  demon- 
strated. He  was  literally  the  leader  among  his 
fellows  in  every  movement  for  the  defense  of 
the  colonies  against  the  hasty  and  ill-advised 
usurpations  of  the  British  Ministry,  and,  it  is 
gratifying  to  record,  he  was  a  wise  leader  also. 
We  have  learned  to  call  him  "mad"  Anthony 
Wayne,  but  his  "madness"  was  not  the  obses- 
sion of  the  wanton  agitator,  even  against  aggra- 
vated abuses.  Although  determined  in  his 
opposition  to  the  measures  of  Government  to 
take  away  the  autonomy  of  the  colonies,  he 
was  to  a  very  late  date  inspired  with  the  hope 
that  the  matters  in  dispute  might  yet  be  settled, 
and  the  Americans  reconciled  with  the  Mother 
24 


THE  PRELUDE  TO  GREAT  DEEDS 

Country.  Thus,  in  September,  1775,  as  Chair- 
man of  the  Chester  County  Committee  of  Safe- 
ty, he  wrote : 

"Whereas,  some  persons  evidently  inimical 
to  the  liberty  of  America  have  industriously 
propagated  a  report  that  the  military  associa- 
tors  of  this  County,  in  conjunction  with  the  mili- 
tary associators  in  general,  intend  to  overturn 
the  Constitution  by  declaring  an  independency 
.  .  .  and  as  such  report  could  not  originate  but 
among  the  worst  of  men  for  the  worst  of  pur- 
poses, this  Committee  have  thought  proper  to 
declare,  and  they  do  hereby  declare,  their  ab- 
horrence even  of  an  idea  so  pernicious  in  its 
nature,  as  they  ardently  wish  for  nothing  more 
than  a  happy  and  speedy  reconciliation  on  con- 
stitutional principles  with  that  State  from  whom 
they  derive  their  origin." 

Nevertheless,  about  a  year  before  the  date  of 
this  declaration,  above  quoted,  Anthony  Wayne 
had  signed  another  which  emphatically  asserted 
the  "right  of  every  English  subject  to  the  en- 
joyment and  disposal  of  his  property,"  of  which 
no  power  on  earth  could  legally  divest  him,  and 
25 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

that  "the  attempted  invasion  of  that  right  was 
a  grievance  which  should  be  redressed  by  con- 
stitutional means. ' '  From  these  expressions  we 
may  understand  that  Wayne  was  in  hearty 
agreement  with  most  of  the  wisest  leaders  of 
the  colonists.  Independence,  the  founding  of 
a  new  nation,  separate  from  England,  was  an 
after-thought  with  nearly  all  of  them,  an  ' '  evo- 
lution," as  we  would  say  today.  The  real 
grounds  of  contention  were  the  attempts  to  ab- 
rogate the  rights  of  self-government — placing 
all  the  colonies  under  the  direct  administration 
of  the  Crown  and  its  ministers — and  the  making 
of  laws  for  the  colonists  in  which  they  had 
had  no  representation,  in  fact  in  regard  to 
which  they  had  not  even  been  consulted.  The 
succession  of  governmental  blunders  looking 
toward  these  ends  was  what  made  the  taxation 
of  tea,  paper,  etc.,  so  odious  to  all  Americans, 
especially  to  the  people  of  Boston  and  vicinity, 
and  was  the  occasion  of  the  familiar  slogan 
of  the  times,  "Taxation  without  representation 
is  tyranny. "  This  latter  sentence  was  orig- 
inated, probably,  in  the  expressions  used  by 
26 


THE  PRELUDE  TO  GREAT  DEEDS 

John  Adams,  when  defending  John  Hancock 
on  the  charge  of  smuggling  wine  in  1770,  but, 
even  with  Adams  and  Hancock,  no  greater  con- 
sequences were  expected  to  their  protest  than 
the  granting  of  the  right  of  representation  in 
making  the  laws  for  their  own  government  if 
not  for  their  separate  government. 

Such,  however,  was  the  attitude  of  the  King 
and  his  ministers  at  this  period  that  the  rep- 
resentations of  the  colonists  were  treated  with 
contempt.  The  unwise  zeal  of  such  men  as 
Governor  Edmund  Andros,  and  others,  had  con- 
firmed the  opinion  in  England  that  the  Ameri- 
cans were  essentially  rebellious  and  turbulent; 
and,  consequently,  that  they  were  to  be  curbed 
by  severe  measures  only.  As  the  logical  cul- 
mination to  the  strained  relations  so  long  exist- 
ing between  the  Mother  Country  and  her  colo- 
nies, the  incensed  Bostonians  plotted  together 
and  committed  the  depredation  known  as  the 
11  Boston  tea  party,"  in  which  a  whole  ship's 
cargo  of  tea  was  thrown  overboard,  because  of 
the  odious  import  tax.  At  once  their  city  was 
placed  under  martial  law.  Violence  now  was 
27 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

requited  with  more  violence,  and  in  every  case 
it  begat  its  own  kind;  the  dispute  grew  daily 
more  aggravated.  Even  in  such  colonies  as 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  where,  as  yet,  the 
valued  institutions  of  the  people  had  not  been 
interfered  with,  the  conviction  gained  ground 
steadily  that  only  an  armed  opposition  could 
convince  the  Crown  that  the  Americans  were 
determined  to  maintain  their  liberties  under 
their  charters.  The  raising  and  equipping  of 
military  companies  in  all  the  colonies  seemed  at 
the  time  merely  a  measure  of  "preparedness" 
— a  word  that  every  American  should  know  by 
this  time  and  take  to  heart. 

Among  the  most  prominent  leaders  in  Penn- 
sylvania against  the  prevailing  acts  of  the  Brit- 
ish Ministry  was  Anthony  Wayne  himself.  In 
July,  1774,  he  was  Chairman  of  the  County 
Committee  that  adopted  resolutions  condemn- 
ing all  these  acts  of  oppression.  In  January, 
1775,  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Provincial  Con- 
vention of  Pennsylvania,  which  took  measures 
to  encourage  home  industries  and  manufactures, 
in  opposition  to  the  taxed  imports  from  other 
28 


THE  PRELUDE  TO  GREAT  DEEDS 

countries.  In  the  following  May  he  originated 
a  proposition  that  the  "freemen"  of  Chester 
organize  for  military  defense ;  later  in  the  same 
year  he  served  on  the  County  Committees  of 
Safety  and  Correspondence,  and  in  December 
he  was  nominated  for  the  Provincial  Assembly 
from  his  County.  In  the  meantime,  also,  he 
was  busily  engaged  in  recruiting  a  regiment — 
it  was  known  as  the  Fourth  Pennsylvania  Bat- 
talion— and  in  January,  1776,  attired  in  a  re- 
splendent uniform,  he  was  commissioned  its 
coloneL 

With  his  elevation  to  the  colonelcy  of  this 
"battalion,"  Wayne  attained  at  last  to  the  kind 
of  position  for  which  his  instincts,  abilities,  and 
much  of  his  previous  study  had  amply  qualified 
him.  Even  in  the  midst  of  his  engrossing  en- 
gagements at  farming,  tanning  and  assisting 
in  the  government  and  public  affairs  of  his 
county  and  province,  he  had  followed  out  his 
boyhood  bent  and  had  always  been  an  eager 
student  of  military  science  and  strategy.  This 
is  shown  by  his  frequent  references  in  after-life 
to  such  books  as  "Marshal  Saxe's  Campaigns," 
29 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

and  "Caesar's  Commentaries  on  the  Gallic 
"War."  And  the  idea  of  military  essentials 
which  he  seems  to  have  derived  from  his  studies 
may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  he  early  showed 
marked  tendencies  to  become  a  " martinet,"  or 
stickler  for  form  and  discipline.  He  required 
that  each  company  of  his  command  should  have 
its  own  barber,  and  that  the  men  should  be 
carefully  shaved,  and  have  their  hair  plaited 
and  powdered.  He  announced,  moreover,  that 
he  would  severely  punish  "every  man  who 
comes  on  parade  with  a  long  beard,  slovenly 
dressed  or  dirty."  In  a  letter  to  Washington, 
justly  famous  for  its  frankness,  he  says: 

"I  have  an  insuperable  bias  in  favor  of  an 
elegant  uniform  and  soldierly  appearance,  so 
much  so  that  I  would  risk  my  life  and  reputa- 
tion at  the  head  of  the  same  men  in  an  attack, 
clothed  and  appointed  as  I  could  wish,  merely 
with  bayonets  and  a  single  charge  of  ammuni- 
tion, than  to  take  them  as  they  appear  in  com- 
mon with  sixty  rounds  of  cartridges.  It  may  be 
a  false  idea,  but  I  cannot  help  cherishing  it." 

It  might  seem  to  some  readers  that  all  such 
30 


THE  PEELUDE  TO  GREAT  DEEDS 

matters  are  too  trivial  to  occupy  the  attention 
of  a  commander  of  troops,  whose  business  is, 
first  place,  "to  do  and  to  die,"  if,  indeed,  dying 
comes  in  the  line  of  duty.  But  one  must  not  for- 
get that,  just  as  in  any  mechanical  device  pro- 
duced by  human  ingenuity,  derangement  in  a 
small  part  may  finally  grow  into  a  large  de- 
rangement in  the  whole  machine ;  so,  in  an  or- 
ganization of  people,  in  an  army  or  even  in  a 
deliberative  assembly,  all  rules  and  regulations 
that  promote  uniformity  of  action  and  coopera- 
tion are  valuable  and  necessary.  Experience 
teaches  us  also  that  nothing  so  promotes  the 
efficiency  of  a  corps  of  soldiers  as  strict  disci- 
pline in  such  small  matters,  as  we  might  regard 
them,  as  those  of  personal  appearance  and  be- 
havior. We  see,  therefore,  that  Wayne  showed 
the  instincts  of  a  real  commander  in  his  in- 
sistence on  such  matters,  rather  than  the  mere 
desire  to  make  a  fine  showing  on  parade.  The 
performance  of  his  men  in  action  throughout 
the  war  amply  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of  his 
scheme  of  discipline. 


31 


CHAPTEB  IV 

COLONEL  WAYNE  AT  TROIS  RIVIERES 

IT  was  at  the  battle  of  Trois  Rivieres,  or 
Three  Rivers,  in  Canada,  that  Colonel 
Wayne  and  his  gallant  command  were  for  the 
first  time  under  fire.  The  result  of  this  engage- 
ment was  a  defeat,  a  defeat  by  no  means  inglo- 
rious, although,  as  one  historian  remarks,  in 
referring  to  this  early  American  reverse,  they 
"lost  almost  everything  belonging  to  them  save 
their  hair  and  their  beards!"  It  was  a  sad 
blow  to  the  members  of  the  regiment  upon  whom 
their  Colonel  had  expended  so  much  care  and 
solicitude.  It  was  the  disastrous  end  of  an 
ill-conceived  expedition,  the  attempted  invasion 
of  Canada  in  1776  with  the  object  of  enlisting 
the  sympathies  and  cooperation  of  the  recently 
conquered  French  colonists  in  the  common  re- 
sistance to  the  British  Crown.  The  unsuccess- 
ful assault  on  the  stronghold  of  Quebec  was  the 
32 


COLONEL  WAYNE  AT  TROIS  RIVIERES 

culmination  of  the  failure,  from  which  the 
American  forces  under  Generals  Montgomery 
and  Arnold  were  compelled  to  make  a  hurried 
and  disorderly  retreat. 

According  to  the  judgment  of  most  of  the 
American  leaders  at  the  time,  the  sympathies 
of  the  French  Canadians  should  have  been 
easily  obtained.  By  race  and  traditions  alike 
they  should  have  been  more  than  willing  to 
throw  off  the  British  yoke  for  the  prospects  of 
self-government.  But  as  it  happened,  the 
policy  of  the  Crown  toward  these  new  acces- 
sions to  the  British  dominions  had  been  a  wise 
and  eminently  acceptable  one.  Probably  be- 
cause the  main  prerogative  claimed  by  the 
King,  direct  government  by  the  Crown  through 
a  royal  governor,  and  without  representative 
legislation,  had  already  been  established,  it 
seemed  possible  to  allow  the  concessions  that 
the  old  French  law  should  still  hold  in  all  ad- 
ministrative matters,  especially  land  tenures, 
that  the  posts  of  greatest  honor  should  be  re- 
served, as  formerly,  for  representatives  of  the 
French  aristocracy,  and,  most  valuable  of  all, 
33 


TEDS  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

that  the  Catholic  Church  should  be  guaranteed 
in  the  possession  of  its  vast  estates.  This  latter 
provision  insured  the  influence  of  the  priest- 
hood for  the  British,  on  the  ground,  apparently, 
that,  since  the  influence  and  position  of  the 
Church  were  thus  secured  by  law,  the  welfare  of 
the  people  was  certain  to  be  established.  Nor 
could  the  influence  of  even  so  distinguished  a 
clergyman  as  the  Rev.  John  Carroll,  subse- 
quently Catholic  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  avail 
to  change  the  attitude  of  his  coreligionists  in 
Canada.  Undoubtedly,  the  Catholic  priesthood 
and  hierarchy  of  the  province  knew  perfectly 
well  that,  in  the  event  of  their  joining,  and  if 
the  American  cause  were  overthrown,  the  first 
movement  of  reprisal  by  the  nominally  Protes- 
tant State  of  Great  Britain  would  be  the  confis- 
cation of  all  Church  holdings.  Consequently, 
the  mighty  influence  of  religion  was  enlisted  in 
support  of  the  existing  order,  as  against  all  the 
inducements  offered  by  the  American  colonists 
and  their  predominantly  Protestant  Congress. 
The  French  Canadians  assisted  effectively  in 
the  defeat  of  the  attempted  invasion. 
34 


COLONEL  WAYNE  AT  TROIS  RIVIERES 

Colonel  Wayne's  command  was  attached  to 
the  Pennsylvania  Brigade  commanded  by  Gen- 
eral William  Thompson,  which,  in  addition  to 
the  Fourth  Battalion,  consisted  of  the  Second 
Battalion,  under  Colonel  Arthur  St.  Clair,  and 
of  the  Sixth,  under  Colonel  William  Irvine. 
This  force  had  been  sent  forward  to  assist  the 
American  army  already  in  Canada,  and  started 
from  home,  undoubtedly,  in  high  hopes  of  par- 
ticipating in  a  glorious  and  apparently  certain 
conquest.  Wayne's  command,  which  had  been 
variously  delayed  by  the  necessity  of  securing 
proper  arms  and  equipment,  reached  a  point 
known  as  Fort  Sorel,  midway  between  Montreal 
and  Quebec,  on  June  5,  1776,  and  there  joined 
the  retreating  remnant  of  General  Montgom- 
ery's army,  together  with  the  other  com- 
mands belonging  to  Thompson's  Brigade,  under 
the  command  of  General  John  Sullivan.  Imme- 
diately after  their  arrival,  Wayne's  men,  to- 
gether with  the  other  Pennsylvanians,  were 
ordered  by  Sullivan  to  attack  the  British  force 
under  General  Burgoyne,  then  stationed  at 
Trois  Rivieres,  some  fifty  miles  down  the  river. 
35 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

The  precise  advantages  to  be  gained  by  maMng 
this  attack  are  not  very  evident,  but  the  Penn- 
sylvanians  responded  cheerfully  to  the  call  of 
duty,  and  went  forth  eagerly  to  their  baptism  of 
fire. 

The  force  sent  to  the  attack  on  Trois  Rivieres 
was  1,400  strong,  all  from  Pennsylvania,  ex- 
cept the  small  New  Jersey  Battalion,  under  Col- 
onel William  Maxwell.  They  came  down  the  St. 
Lawrence  River  in  boats,  landing  at  a  point  nine 
miles  above  the  town  in  which  the  British  were 
quartered,  at  about  two  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  June  9.  The  plan  was  to  march  forward, 
and  to  surprise  Burgoyne's  men  about  dawn, 
a  daring  plan  in  which,  in  all  probability,  the 
Americans  would  have  been  victorious.  As  it 
happened,  however,  they  were  misled  on  the 
road,  came  in  sight  of  the  enemy's  outposts 
about  3  o'clock,  and  were  compelled  to  make 
their  further  progress  through  a  thick  and  deep 
swamp,  in  which  marching  was  both  slow  and 
painful.  After  four  weary  hours  of  dark  and 
dismal  floundering,  the  brave  Americans 
emerged  upon  an  open  expanse  of  solid  ground 
36 


COLONEL  WAYNE  AT  TROIS  RIVIERES 

where  they  were  met  by  a  large  and  well-formed 
detachment  of  British  regulars.  Although  the 
Pennsylvanians  were  aided  by  the  fact  that 
they  were  proceeding  through  a  wood,  which,  as 
Wayne  himself  relates,  was  "so  deep  and  thick 
with  timber  and  underwood  that  a  man  ten 
yards  in  front  or  rear  would  not  see  the  men 
drawn  up,"  they  were  also  seriously  disadvan- 
taged  in  not  being  able  to  see  other  portions 
of  their  own  force,  and  in  being  unable  to  form 
before  reaching  the  open.  In  this  difficulty 
Wayne's  genius  for  generalship  under  condi- 
tions of  actual  warfare  was  first  manifested — a 
man  learned  in  the  theory  of  strategy,  a  reader 
of  books  about  the  world's  great  military 
achievements,  he  proved  to  be  a  real  general 
prepared  to  command!  Sending  for  Captain 
Samuel  Hay,  he  gave  the  brief  order: 

"Take  you,  sir,  your  company  of  riflemen, 
and  a  detachment  of  the  light  infantry  of  the 
Fourth  Battalion,  and  advance  carefully 
through  the  thicket,  keeping  the  enemy  under 
fire." 

Having  created  this  diversion,  which,  as  he 
37 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

stated  later,  was  intended  merely  to  "amuse" 
the  enemy,  he  succeeded  in  forming  the  re- 
mainder of  his  men  in  good  order,  prepared  to 
advance.  The  British,  receiving  the  fire  of 
Hay's  men,  moved  forward  in  their  direction, 
which  was  precisely  the  result  anticipated  by 
Wayne  himself.  He  then  moved  his  own  men  to 
meet  the  oncoming  enemy,  and  issued  his  com- 
mand to  Hay  to  separate  his  force  into  two 
companies,  one  on  either  wing  of  the  American 
line,  and  attempt  a  double  flank  movement,  ex- 
posing the  British  to  fire  from  three  directions. 
This  move  was  highly  successful,  as  far  as  it 
was  effective,  for  the  British  line  was  broken, 
and  the  men  fled  in  disorder  to  their  own  camp. 
The  Americans  followed  them  up  to  the  breast- 
works of  their  fortifications,  in  the  face  of  a 
galling  fire  from  musketry,  field  pieces  and 
howitzers.  All  of  the  colonial  forces  now 
rushed  on  to  follow  up  their  advantage,  includ- 
ing those  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Wil- 
liam Maxwell,  who  had  wandered  far  to  the 
left  of  the  other  American  forces  in  a  dense 
thicket  in  the  midst  of  the  swamp.  The  show- 
38 


COLONEL  WAYNE  AT  TROIS  RIVIERES 

ing  made  by  all,  who  advanced  with  a  bravery 
notable  in  men  under  fire  for  the  first  time,1 
served  well  to  impress  the  enemy,  and  to  per- 
suade them  to  remain  within  their  own  earth- 
works. 

Finally,  however,  the  combined  fire  of  the 
naval  vessels  on  the  river  and  land  forces  of 
the  British  became  too  intense,  and  left  no  al- 
ternative but  retreat.  At  the  close  of  the  ac- 
tion in  the  open,  Wayne  was  left  on  the  field 
with  only  twenty  men  and  five  officers,  imper- 
turbably  directing  the  retreat,  and  retiring  only 
when  all  were  safely  in  the  cover  of  the  swamp. 
Even  after  he  also  had  retired,  he  remained 
behind  the  main  body  of  his  troops  to  direct  an 
incessant  small  fire,  intended  to  keep  the  enemy 
within  their  own  lines,  and  to  cover  the  retreat. 
After  about  one  hour  he  withdrew  also,  follow- 
ing a  road  to  the  point  at  which  the  party  had 
entered  the  swamp  in  the  morning,  collecting 
in  the  course  of  the  march  about  700  stragglers, 
whom  he  quickly  formed  into  order,  continuing 
the  march  without  further  difficulty  than  that 
which  comes  from  lack  of  all  provisions. 
39 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

About  nine  miles  from  the  scene  of  battle  a 
detachment  of  the  enemy,  about  1,500  strong, 
waylaid  the  Americans,  and  attempted  to  cut 
them  off,  but,  separated  as  they  were  from 
their  ships  and  great  guns,  they  were  able  to 
do  little  damage.  Three  days  later,  a  weary 
band  of  1,100  men,  who  had  suffered  from  all 
sorts  of  hardships,  including  hunger  and  lack 
of  sleep,  reached  the  American  camp  at  Fort 
Sorel.  They  had  lost  300  of  their  number,  in- 
cluding General  Thompson  and  Colonel  Irvine, 
who  were  taken  prisoners,  and  Colonel  St.  Clair, 
who  wandered  into  camp  alone  several  hours 
later. 

The  net  result  of  the  gallant  attack  on  Trois 
Rivieres  was  to  discourage  the  British  forces 
from  following  the  Americans  further,  thus,  as 
Wayne  records,  availing  to  save  the  army  in 
Canada.  Nor  did  he  hesitate  to  claim  such  credit 
as  belonged  of  right  to  his  able  efforts ;  remark- 
ing in  a  letter  written  to  Dr.  Franklin,  "I  be- 
lieve that  it  will  be  universally  allowed  that  Col. 
Allen  and  myself  have  saved  the  army."  Nor 
was  this  service  either  needless  or  ill-timed.  In 
40 


COLONEL  WAYNE  AT  TROIS  RIVIERES 

the  words  of  General  James  Wilkinson,  who  had 
been  dispatched  by  Arnold  to  solicit  aid  in  the 
retreat  of  his  own  forces,  every  house  and  hut 
on  the  route  was  "crowded  with  straggling  men 
without  officers,  and  officers  without  men.'*  All 
were  suffering  from  privations,  and  many  were 
sick  and  wounded.  Finally,  as  Wilkinson  re- 
cords, he  met  with  Lieutenant-Colonel  William 
Allen — he  who  seceded  from  the  Americans 
after  the  Declaration  of  Independence — to 
whom  he  communicated  his  orders  for  a  detach- 
ment. "Wilkinson,"  said  Allen,  "this  army 
is  conquered  by  its  fears,  and  I  doubt  whether 
you  can  draw  any  assistance  from  it;  but  Col- 
onel Wayne  is  in  the  rear,  and  if  anyone  can  do 
it  he  is  the  man." 

Wilkinson's  meeting  with  Wayne  was  a 
memorable  scene.  "I  met  that  gallant  officer," 
he  writes,  "as  much  at  his  ease  as  if  he  was 
marching  on  a  parade  of  exercise."  No  trace 
of  fear  or  excitement  was  to  be  seen  in  the  face 
or  carriage  of  this  hero,  who  had  shown  the 
courage  of  a  seasoned  warrior  in  his  first  ex- 
perience of  real  fighting.  He  was  "to  the  man- 
41 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

ner  born,"  apparently,  just  as  if  there  were 
truth  in  the  old  teaching  that  we  are  reborn  into 
the  world  after  death,  and  he  had  already,  as 
he  had  dreamed  of  a  former  life,  led  his  legions 
to  victory  and  glory  on  a  hundred  fields  of  bat- 
tle. On  hearing  Wilkinson's  demand  for  men 
to  assist  Arnold  in  his  extremity,  Wayne  acted 
promptly.  Stationing  a  guard  at  the  bridge  he 
himself  had  just  crossed,  he  gave  orders  to  stop 
every  man  who  seemed  alert  and  capable  of 
further  immediate  service,  and  quickly  recruited 
a  detachment  sufficient  for  all  needs.  "Then," 
says  Wilkinson,  "the  very  men  who  only  the 
day  before  were  retreating  in  confusion  before 
a  division  of  the  enemy  now  marched  with  alac- 
rity against  his  main  body. ' ' 

Fortunately,  in  spite  of  his  fears,  Arnold 
had,  meantime,  succeeded  in  making  good  his 
escape  from  the  trap  into  which  the  British 
commander  had  sought  to  draw  him.  Wayne 
missed,  therefore,  another  immediate  oppor- 
tunity to  achieve  distinction  under  fire,  and 
was  obliged  to  return  to  rejoin  General  Sullivan 
at  Fort  SoreL  On  the  way  back  an  event  oc- 
42 


COLONEL  WAYNE  AT  TROIS  RIVIERES 

curred  that  served  to  show  the  character  of  the 
man  in  a  new  light.  When  about  two  miles 
from  the  American  camp,  the  detachment  under 
Wayne's  command  was  sighted  by  Sullivan's 
men,  as  it  slowly  made  its  way  along  the  oppo- 
site bank  of  the  Sorel  River,  and  was  mistaken 
for  a  hostile  force.  Wayne  himself,  in  full  sight 
of  the  American  camp,  viewed  their  hurried 
preparations  for  an  attack  with  both  amusement 
and  surprise.  He  is  reported  to  have  remarked 
briefly : 

"They  should  have  been  better  prepared  for 
an  attack.  Then,  had  we  been  friends  or  foes, 
our  welcome  would  have  been  equally  as 
warm." 

In  the  retreat  of  the  army  from  Canada, 
Colonel  Wayne  commanded  the  Pennsylvania 
regiments  as  the  ranking  officer — General 
Thompson  and  Colonel  Irvine  having  been  made 
prisoners,  and  Colonel  St.  Clair  having  been 
seriously  wounded.  Wayne  himself  had  not 
escaped  unhurt,  for  he  had  received  a  gun-shot 
wound  at  Trois  Rivieres — he  described  it  to 
Franklin  as  "a  slight  touch  in  my  right  leg" — 
43 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

but  he  allowed  himself  no  rest  from  his  duties, 
and  by  his  strict  discipline  actually  trans- 
formed the  straggling  and  disheartened  crowd 
of  his  soldiers  into  an  orderly  and  compacted 
fighting  force.  It  was  in  this  period,  curiously 
enough,  that  he  made  his  famous  statement  pre- 
viously quoted,  that  he  "  would  expect  his  offi- 
cers to  enforce  regulations  about  personal 
cleanliness  and  neatness  of  attire,"  adding  that 
he  considered  it  their  duty  "to  see  that  their 
men  always  appear  washed,  shaved,  their  hair 
plaited  and  powdered,  and  their  arms  in  good 
order. ' '  Yet  this  was  the  man  to  whom  much  of 
the  credit  is  due  for  leading  the  .American 
forces  safely  out  of  the  clutches  of  Burgoyne 
to  the  safe  haven  of  Fort  Ticonderoga. 


CHAPTER  V 
ANTHONY  WAYNE  ASKS  FOR  ACTION 

THE  return  of  the  American  army  from 
Canada  found  Anthony  Wayne  already 
famous  as  a  capable  commander  and  resourceful 
strategist.  As  we  have  already  learned,  the 
battle  of  Trios  Rivieres  had  left  him  the  rank- 
ing officer  of  the  Pennsylvania  troops,  with  the 
duty  of  leading  them  to  a  safe  retreat  at  Fort 
Ticonderoga.  The  enemy's  forces  followed  the 
little  army — not  closely,  but  at  a  safe  distance. 
Instead  of  attempting  a  general  engagement, 
which  might  have  resulted  injuriously  to  the 
Americans,  they  contented  themselves  with  oc- 
casional skirmishes.  But  now  followed  the  bat- 
tle of  Lake  Champlain,  in  which  Arnold's  fleet 
was  destroyed.  The  British,  however,  were  con- 
tent merely  to  threaten  an  attack  on  Ticon- 
deroga, and  then  withdrew  until  the  following 
season.  In  these  days  of  titanic  modern  war- 
45 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

fare,  involving  the  engagement  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  men,  it  seems  a  small  matter  in- 
deed, the  maneuvering  or  counter-maneuvering 
of  a  few  regiments  on  either  side.  But  war  was 
a  different  game  in  those  days,  and  important 
issues  hung  upon  the  outcome  of  a  single  small 
engagement.  Both  sides  were  uncertain,  also, 
as  to  the  real  effective  strength  of  their  antag- 
onists, and  were  naturally  unwilling  to  risk  ac- 
tions that  might  result  in  disastrous  defeat. 
The  confidence  of  the  Americans,  however,  is 
well  expressed  by  Colonel  Wayne  himself,  when 
he  wrote  to  his  wife  under  date  January  3, 
1777,  "The  British  Rebels  may  be  successful 
for  a  time ;  they  may  take  and  destroy  our  towns 
near  the  water  and  distress  us  much,  but  they 
never  can,  they  never  will,  subjugate  the  free- 
born  sons  of  America.  Our  growing  country 
can  meet  with  considerable  losses  and  survive 
them ;  but  one  defeat  for  our  more  than  savage 
enemies  ruins  them  forever." 

For  nearly  a  year  Wayne  was  stationed  at 
Ticonderoga,  then,  according  to  general  opin- 
ion, the  second  most  important  post  in  the  whole 
46 


ANTHONY  WAYNE  ASKS  FOR  ACTION 

of  the  colonial  territory.  On  November  18, 
1776,  he  was  appointed  by  General  Schuyler 
commandant  of  the  fort  and  its  dependencies, 
and  so  continued  until  the  following  April 
twelft^.  The  responsibilities  of  his  new  com- 
mand, having  to  do  with  the  strengthening  of 
the  extensive  fortifications,  and  the  discipline  of 
a  force  of  men  varying  between  2,500  and  7,000, 
who  were  frequently  discontented  with  their 
conditions  and  occasionally  were  mutinous, 
fully  occupied  his  attention.  He  was  restive, 
however,  at  the  continued  lack  of  opportunity 
for  real  fighting  and  apparently  exerted  every 
means  at  his  disposal  to  obtain  a  transference, 
if  possible  to  Washington's  army,  which  was 
during  this  same  period  passing  through  ex- 
citing adventures.  The  place  also  evidently 
sorely  depressed  his  spirits,  as  may  be  judged 
from  a  remark  in  one  of  his  letters : 

"It  [the  country  about  Ticonderogal  appears 
to  be  the  last  part  of  the  world  that  God  made, 
and  I  have  some  ground  to  believe  it  was  fin- 
ished in  the  dark.  That  it  was  never  intended 
that  man  should  live  in  it  is  clear,  for  the  peo- 
47 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

pie  who  attempted  to  make  any  stay  have  for 
the  most  part  perished  by  pestilence  or  the 
sword.  .  .  .  The  soldiers  make  tent  pins  of  the 
shin  and  thigh  bones  of  Abercrombie 's  men." 
With  all  his  earnest  longing  after  more  ac- 
tion, and  his  constant  solicitation  that  he  be 
transferred,  it  is  gratifying  to  record  that  he 
wasted  no  time — that  he  seemed  inspired  with 
the  ambition  to  discharge  the  duties  of  even  an 
unacceptable  post  with  the  utmost  care  and  at- 
tention. The  men  were  frequently  short  on  ra- 
tions, were  ill-equipped,  were  suffering  con- 
stantly from  the  inroads  of  epidemic  disease, 
and  the  commander  exerted  himself  to  the  ut- 
most to  supply  their  needs — now  writing  long 
and  insistent  letters  to  his  superiors,  both  in 
army  and  government  positions,  now  sending 
requisitions  to  the  neighboring  colonies  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Connecticut  for  both  men  and 
supplies.  As  the  result,  undoubtedly,  of  his 
rigid  discipline,  the  Pennsylvania  troops  won 
great  distinction,  although,  in  the  words  of 
Colonel  Francis  Johnston,  the  "Pennsylvanians 
were  originally  designed  for  soldiers,"  possess- 
48 


ANTHONY  WAYNE  ASKS  FOR  ACTION 

ing  a  degree  of  "vigilance,  assiduity  and  res- 
ignation to  bad  usage,  fatigue  and  the  strictest 
discipline." 

.The  grand  qualities  of  the  Pennsylvania 
troops,  be  they  original  or  from  consistent  dis- 
cipline, found  eminent  illustration  during  the 
fighting  following  the  defeat  of  the  American 
fleet  on  Lake  Champlain.  The  news  of  this  dis- 
aster reached  the  camp  at  Lake  George  where 
several  hundred  Pennsylvanians  were  confined 
in  the  hospital,  "emaciated  with  disease  and 
sickness  of  the  most  malignant  kind. ' '  But,  even 
while  many  of  the  troops  were  eagerly  hoping 
for  the  day  of  their  discharge— others  speaking 
and  behaving  mutinously,  because  compelled 
to  remain  after  the  expiration  of  their  term  of 
service,  until  reinforcements  should  arrive — the 
invalids  and  "incapacitated"  rose  to  a  man,  it 
is  related,  and  "fixed  on  their  military  ac- 
couterments. "  Then,  entirely  without  orders 
or  compulsion,  they  marched  to  the  scene  of 
conflict,  determined  to  conquer  or  die  with  their 
countrymen.  "As  two  privates  of  the  First 
Battalion  commanded  by  Colonel  De  Haas 
49 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

passed  through  our  encampment,"  writes  Col- 
onel Johnston,  "they  were  asked  if  no  more  of 
the  Pennsylvanians  were  coming,  to  which  they 
answered  with  indignation,  'Yes,  confound  you, 
every  sick  man  amongst  us  that  could  possibly 
crawl;  but  we  led  the  van  from  our  rank.'  " 
Some  of  these  same  men  had  even  received  their 
discharges,  and  had  been  kept  at  the  hospital 
merely  because,  in  the  judgment  of  their  offi- 
cers and  advisors,  they  were  incapable  of  mak- 
ing the  journey  home.  Yet  these  men,  as  John- 
ston relates,  came  "swearing  by  everything 
sacred  that  they  would  have  ample  revenge!" 
From  his  meager  defensive  force  of  not 
"more  than  6,000  effective  men,  of  which  some- 
thing less  than  one-half,  i.  e.,  about  2,600,  will 
bear  the  brunt  of  the  day,  the  remainder  being 
on  Mount  Independence  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  Lake,"  Wayne  speaks  proudly  in  one 
of  his  letters  of  his  own  Pennsylvania  contin- 
gent. * '  I  thank  my  God, ' '  he  remarks, ' '  we  are 
left  partly  alone.  I  have  yet  1,500  hardy  vet- 
erans from  Pennsylvania;  would  to  Heaven  I 
could  for  a  day  lead  them  to  the  assistance  of 
50 


ANTHONY  WAYNE  ASKS  FOE  ACTION 

poor  Washington.  I  would  risk  my  soul  that 
they  would  sell  their  lives,  or  liberties,  at  too 
dear  a  rate  for  Britons  to  make  purchases.'* 
In  another  letter  to  General  Schuyler  he  speaks 
of  the  approaching  discharge  of  a  part  of  this 
force,  not  without  the  same  pride  as  of  old,  and 
with  perfect  confidence  in  their  consistent  in- 
tention to  serve  the  cause  of  independence  to 
the  end  of  the  war.  "I  have,"  he  writes, 
"ordered  one  regiment  of  the  Pennsylvania  to 
march  tomorrow  [January  23,  1777].  The 
others  will  follow  as  soon  as  possible  with 
orders  to  proceed  in  good  order  to  Philadelphia. 
I  have  lately  received  letters  from  General  St. 
Clair  and  other  gentlemen  in  General  Washing- 
ton's camp  which  made  me  think  it  advisable 
to  keep  these  regiments  embodied  until  they  are 
dismissed  by  the  board  of  war.  Their  time 
expired  the  5th  of  this  instant:  they  will  be 
settled  with  in  Philadelphia  agreeable  to  prom- 
ise, when  I  have  reason  to  expect  the  greatest 
part  will  reengage." 

Speaking  of  these  same  troops  some  time  pre- 
vious, Wayne  remarked:    "  *  Liberty  to  come 
51 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

down  for  one  month  when  relieved  *  carries  with 
it  an  idea  of  being  immediately  sent  back  to  a 
place  [Ticonderoga]  which  they  imagine  is 
very  unhealthy.  They  say,  'March  us  off  this 
ground  and  then  we  will  cheerfully  reengage/ 
Added  to  this,  their  anxiety  about  their  friends 
in  the  Jerseys  and  Pennsylvania  makes  them 
impatient  to  be  led  to  the  assistance  of  their  dis- 
tressed home  country.  They  likewise  see  the 
eastern  people  running  away  in  the  clouds  of 
the  night,  some  before  and  all  soon  as  their 
times  expire.  Colonel  WhitcomVs  regiment, 
all  the  sailors  and  mariners,  the  whole  of  the 
artificers,  and  all  the  corps  of  artillery,  except 
Captain  Roman's  company,  which  consists  of 
but  twelve  men,  officers  included,  are  gone  off 
the  ground." 

Wayne,  as  it  seems,  was  incapable  of  under- 
standing the  motives  behind  such  doings.  Home 
and  family  were  as  dear  to  him  as  to  any  of 
those  who,  as  he  complains,  deserted,  or  made 
a  precipitous  departure.  But,  with  him,  the 
sentiment  of  patriotism  and  the  soldier's  honor 
were  altogether  too  high  and  valuable  for  any 
52 


ANTHONY  WAYNE  ASKS  FOR  ACTION 

kind  of  compromise.  To  deserters  he  frequently 
applied  the  then  highly  opprobrious  term  "cai- 
tiff," which  we  also  might  consider  insulting, 
had  we  not  quite  forgotten  its  use  and  meaning. 
His  firm  and  decisive  treatment  of  mutinous 
and  insubordinate  soldiers  is  exampled  in  the 
following  account  embodied  in  one  of  his  letters : 
"Yesterday  morning  [February  11, 1777],  at 
gun  fire,  I  was  informed  that  Captain  Nelson's 
rifle  company — who  used  to  do  duty  in  my  regi- 
ment— were  under  arms  with  their  packs  slung 
ready  to  march,  and  determined  to  force  their 
way  through  all  opposition.  On  my  arrival  at 
their  encampment  I  found  them  drawn  up  in 
order  and  beginning  their  march.  On  asking 
the  cause  of  such  conduct,  they  began  in  a 
tumultuous  manner  to  inform  me  that  the  time 
of  their  enlistment  was  expired  last  month,  and 
that  they  looked  upon  themselves  as  at  liberty 
to  go  home.  I  ordered  them  to  halt — that  I 
could  not  answer  them  all  at  once.  I  directed 
their  leader  to  step  out  and  speak  for  them.  A 
sergeant  advanced.  I  presented  a  pistol  to  his 
breast.  He  fell  on  his  knees  to  beg  his  life.  I 
53 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

then  ordered  the  whole  to  ground  their  arms, 
which  was  immediately  complied  with.  I  then 
addressed  them,  when  they  with  one  voice 
agreed  to  remain  until  the  20th  instant  and  re- 
turn to  their  duty.  This  was  scarce  over  when 
a  certain  Jonah  Holida  of  Captain  Coe's  com- 
pany in  Colonel  Robinson's  regiment  en- 
deavored to  excite  them  to  mutiny  again.  .  .  . 
I  thought  proper  to  chastise  him  for  his  in- 
solence on  the  spot  before  the  men,  and  then 
sent  him  to  answer  for  his  crime  to  the  main 
guard. 

"The  colonel  waited  on  me  and  very  inno- 
cently informed  me  that  he  had  a  complaint 
lodged  against  me,  that  he  was  very  sorry  for 
it,  but  was  obliged  to  take  notice  of  it,  and  then 
delivered  the  within  paper.  On  inquiring  I  found 
it  was  wrote  by  Captain  Coe.  I  had  him  brought 
before  me.  He  acknowledged  the  writing,  and 
also  that  he  knew  the  cause  for  which  the  soldier 
was  struck  and  confined,  but  was  of  the  opinion 
that  every  soldier  had  a  right  to  deliver  his 
sentiments  on  every  occasion  without  being 
punished,  upon  which  I  orderd  him  in  arrest 
54 


ANTHONY  WAYNE  ASKS  FOR  ACTION 

as  an  abettor  of  the  mutiny.  I  wait  for  your 
orders  to  send  them  down  to  Albany,  where  you 
will  take  such  further  measures  as  you  may 
deem  necessary." 

There  was  probably  considerable  reason  for 
the  dissatisfaction  expressed  by  both  Wayne 
and  his  men,  who  were  practically  marooned  in 
a  lonely  and  unhealthful  spot,  with  no  chance 
of  real  fighting,  except  with  hunger,  discomfort, 
privation  and  disease,  and  compelled  to  con- 
stantly urge  the  authorities  to  supply  the  mer- 
est necessities  of  life — food,  clothing,  ammuni- 
tion and  medicines.  All  such  conditions  are 
confidently  ascribed  by  historians  to  the  famil- 
iar evils,  politics  and  incompetence  in  high  of- 
fices. So  strong,  indeed,  was  the  sentiment 
that  " politics"  even  then  ruled  the  administra- 
tion of  government,  that,  strange  as  it  may  seem 
at  the  present  day,  even  the  adoption  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  viewed  with- 
out enthusiasm  in  many  quarters,  as  a  mere 
"party  triumph." 

On  February  21,  1777,  Colonel  Wayne  was 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general,  and, 
55 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

in  spite  if  his  tireless  loyalty  and  efficient  ser- 
vice to  the  cause  of  freedom,  was  advanced  to 
no  higher  rank  during  the  whole  period  of  the 
war.  It  was  not,  in  fact,  until  October,  1783, 
that  he  was  advanced  by  Congress  to  the  major- 
generalship,  and  then  only  by  brevet.  Just  as 
he  had  discharged  a  brigadier's  duties  at  Ti- 
conderoga,  with  only  the  rank  and  pay  of  a 
colonel,  so  during  the  remainder  of  his  service, 
to  nearly  the  end  of  the  war,  he  did  the  work  of 
a  major-general  on  the  pay  and  with  the  rank 
of  a  brigadier.  We  might  strongly  suspect  that 
"politics"  had  had  an  influence  in  shaping 
public  policy  in  regard  to  him.  Yet  he  never 
complained  on  this  score.  He  was  anxious  only 
to  get  more  action,  to  lead  his  troops  to  victory 
against  a  cruel  and  revengeful  enemy ;  and  with 
this  end  attained  at  last,  he  seems  to  have  been 
actually  content.  In  a  letter  to  General  Schuy- 
ler  early  in  1777  he  refers  to  the  reverses  in 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  and  adds  that 
the  "alarming  situation  .  .  .  causes  us  most 
ardently  to  wish  for  an  opportunity  of  meeting 
those  sons  of  war  and  rapine,  face  to  face  and 
56 


ANTHONY  WAYNE  ASKS  FOE  ACTION 

man  to  man."  "When  some  of  his  troops  began 
to  be  impatient  at  the  delay  in  securing  their 
discharges,  he  wrote,  "I  want  to  go  also.  It 
would  be  in  my  power  to  do  more  with  them  in 
case  of  necessity  than  perhaps  any  other  offi- 
cer: I  know  these  worthy  fellows  well,  and 
they  know  me.  I  am  confident  they  would  not 
desert  me  in  time  of  danger.  If  you  think  it 
would  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  service,  I 
should  be  glad  to  be  immediately  relieved  in 
command  with  orders  to  march  with  the  last  of 
the  southern  troops." 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  »77 

THE  day  of  Anthony  Wayne's  deliverance 
came  at  last.  On  April  12,  1777,  he  was 
directed  by  Washington  to  report  for  duty  with 
the  main  body  of  the  American  army,  then 
located  at  Morristown,  New  Jersey.  He  was 
succeeded  in  the  command  of  Ticonderoga  by 
General  Arthur  St.  Glair,  and  on  his  arrival  at 
Washington's  camp  was  assigned  to  the  com- 
mand of  a  division  of  eight  regiments  of  the 
newly  organized  Pennsylvania  Line.  It  con- 
sisted of  about  1,700  men,  many  of  whom  had 
been  members  of  the  original  troops  from  Penn- 
sylvania, and  had  reenlisted.  He  had,  there- 
fore, as  nearly  as  possible,  the  realization  of  his 
long-expressed  desire  to  command  his  Penn- 
sylvania veterans  in  real  warfare.  Washing- 
ton's total  command  at  this  time  consisted  of 
only  five  divisions,  or  forty-three  regiments, 
58 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OP  »77 

representing  a  total  of  about  7,300  men.  So 
Wayne  was  given  command  of  about  one-fourth 
of  the  effective  force  in  men,  a  distinct  tribute 
to  his  reputation  as  a  capable  commander. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  assignment  of  Wayne 
to  this  command,  composed  in  part  of  seasoned 
troops,  was  no  accident,  nor  yet  even  a  compli- 
ment to  his  character  and  abilities.  He  was 
deliberately  chosen  as  the  best  available  officer 
to  handle  effective  forces  in  an  army  subjected 
to  unusual  and  trying  conditions.  A  large  part 
of  Washington's  command  at  this  time  was 
composed  of  fresh  recruits,  whose  training 
necessarily  occupied  much  of  the  time  and  at- 
tention of  his  officers.  Until  these  men,  who  had 
been  sent  from  several  states  south  of  the  Hud- 
son, to  take  the  places  of  those  whose  times  of 
enlistment  had  expired,  it  was  manifestly  im- 
possible to  give  battle  to  the  enemy  in  open 
field.  Washington  retired,  therefore,  to  the  high 
lands  around  Morristown,  carefully  entrench- 
ing and  fortifying  his  positions,  and  maintained 
a  "Fabian  policy"  of  awaiting  the  enemy's 
movements  until  his  raw  recruits  had  been 
59 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

"whipped  into  shape. "  By  his  masterly  move- 
ments in  the  battles  of  Trenton  and  Princeton 
he  had  compelled  the  enemy  to  retreat,  and  now 
he  held  the  position  of  advantage,  threatening 
to  cut  off  Howe's  forces  in  any  attempt  to  ad- 
vance on  Philadelphia ;  also  serving  to  protect 
the  entrance  to  the  country  west  of  the  Hudson 
River,  including  the  way  to  West  Point,  Albany 
and  the  hill  country  to  the  south.  Howe  was 
thus  subjected  to  the  constant  danger  of  a  flank 
attack  in  any  movement  he  might  have  attempt- 
ed, either  to  attack  Philadelphia,  or  to  form  a 
junction  with  General  Burgoyne. 

Although  Washington  was  in  a  state  of  con- 
stant anxiety  lest  his  position  should  be  as- 
saulted by  a  large  and  well-trained  force  of 
the  enemy,  being  afraid  that  the  comparatively 
unprepared  condition  of  his  own  troops  should 
be  known  to  them,  it  is  interesting  to  learn  that 
Howe  and  his  men  were  by  no  means  as  con- 
fident, nor  as  well  informed,  as  might  have  been 
suspected.  A  small  detachment  under  Gen- 
eral James  Grant  had,  to  be  sure,  been  ad- 
vanced as  far  as  Brunswick,  with  the  appar- 
60 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  '77 

ent  object  in  view  of  attempting  to  cut  off  the 
expected  advance  of  General  Sullivan,  then  at 
Princeton.  But,  instead  of  making  any  dem- 
onstration against  the  Americans,  he  carefully 
fortified  his  camp,  and  waited.  As  one  his- 
torian has  remarked,  General  Wayne  seems  to 
have  "entertained  a  most  sovereign  contempt 
for  the  enemy,"  commenting  on  the  fact  that 
"they  dared  not  face  us  without  the  cover  of 
an  entrenchment."  In  a  letter  to  Sharp  De- 
lany  in  June,  1777,  he  writes : 

' '  The  enemy  are  all  at  work  in  fortifying  their 
camp.  We  have  fairly  turned  the  tables  on 
them,  for  whilst  we  are  usefully  employed  in 
maneuvering  they  are  at  hard  labor.  Our  peo- 
ple are  daily  gaining  health,  spirits  and  disci- 
pline— the  spade  and  the  pickaxe  are  throwed 
aside  for  the  British  rebels  to  take  up.  They, 
notwithstanding,  affect  to  hold  us  cheap,  and 
threaten  to  beat  up  our  quarters,  if  we  don't 
beat  up  theirs  first,  which  is  in  contemplation ; 
but  of  this  in  time." 

In  the  repulse  of  the  British  detachment  at 
Brunswick  and  its  retreat  to  Amboy,  General 
61 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

Wayne  played  a  conspicuous  part.  Washing- 
ton had  determined  to  dislodge  them,  and  dis- 
patched the  Pennsylvania  troops  under  Wayne 
to  attack  them.  The  result  was  so  successful 
that  the  British  withdrew  hurriedly  from  their 
fortified  camp  "with  circumstances  of  shame 
and  disgrace,"  as  Wayne  expresses  it.  An 
amusing  account  of  this  affair  is  found  in  one 
of  Wayne's  letters.  He  writes: 

"We  offered  General  Grant  battle  six  times 
the  other  day.  He  as  often  formed,  but  always 
on  our  approach  his  people  broke  and  ran,  after 
firing  a  few  volleys,  which  we  never  returned, 
being  determined  to  let  them  feel  the  force  of 
our  fire,  and  to  give  them  the  bayonet  under 
cover  of  the  smoke.  This  Howe,  who  was  to 
march  through  America  at  the  head  of  5,000 
men,  had  his  coat  much  dirtied,  his  horse 's  head 
taken  off,  and  himself  badly  bruised  for  having 
the  presumption  at  the  head  of  700  British 
troops  to  face  500  Pennsylvanians." 

The  "deadlock"  could  not  endure  much 
longer,  however.  So  able  a  general  as  Howe 
must  inevitably  find  some  means  of  circumvent- 
62 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  '77 

ing  the  plans  of  his  opponent  and  gaining  his 
ends,  without  endangering  his  own  safety  in  a 
flank  attack,  such  as  he  must  have  suspected 
Washington  was  planning  to  deliver  to  a  force 
advancing  in  any  direction.  Accordingly,  Howe 
solved  the  difficulty  by  determining  to  transport 
by  sea  a  force  sufficient  to  attack  Philadelphia, 
and  toward  the  end  of  July,  1777,  withdrew  his 
troops  from  New  Jersey,  and  embarked  them  at 
Staten  Island.  About  the  same  time  that  the 
news  of  this  movement  was  received  at  the 
American  camp,  the  unbelievable  disaster  of 
the  capture  of  Fort  Ticonderoga  was  also  com- 
municated to  them.  This  fort,  so  carefully  for- 
tified by  Wayne,  at  the  expense  of  time,  labor 
and  human  lives — for  many  men  contracted  dis- 
ease in  the  prosecution  of  the  work — had  one 
absurdly  weak  point.  The  fortifications  were 
commanded  by  the  heights  of  Mount  Defiance  to 
the  rear,  a  fact  pointed  out  by  both  Wayne  and 
Trumbull  some  months  before,  but  without  suc- 
cess in  persuading  the  authorities  to  provide 
for  the  occupation  of  this  position.  The  British, 
however,  were  not  slow  to  seize  the  advantage 
63 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

so  invitingly  afforded  them,  and  when  their  guns 
and  men  were  perceived  there,  General  St. 
Glair  immediately  capitulated,  without  firing 
a  shot,  or  attempting  any  resistance.  They 
were  well  prepared  for  a  long  siege,  also  to 
repel  assaults  on  their  works,  but  not  to  suffer 
from  the  galling  fire  of  a  battery  mounted  on 
the  heights  to  their  rear. 

Astounding  as  the  new  complication  of  af- 
fairs must  have  seemed,  Washington  was  equal 
to  the  emergency.  He  was  convinced  that  he 
had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  forces  of  Bur- 
goyne  in  the  north.  Consequently  his  attention 
was  devoted  to  providing  to  prevent  the  capture 
of  Philadelphia.  With  this  object  in  view,  he 
issued  these  orders  to  General  Wayne: 

"The  fleet  having  gone  out  of  the  Hook,  and 
as  Delaware  appears  to  be  its  most  probable 
destination,  I  desire  that  you  will  leave  your 
brigade  under  the  next  in  command,  and  pro- 
ceed to  Chester  County,  in  Pennsylvania,  where 
your  presence  will  be  necessary  to  arrange  the 
militia  who  are  to  rendezvous  there." 

In  obedience  to  this  order,  Wayne  at  once 
64 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  '77 

returned  to  his  home  county,  and  plunged  info 
the  midst  of  the  heavy  work  of  organizing  the 
militia.  So  quickly  was  the  final  work  accom- 
plished that  on  August  23,  about  one  month 
after  Howe's  departure  from  New  York,  the 
forces  were  sent  to  the  front,  marching  through 
Philadelphia  on  the  way  to  "Wilmington.  Even 
though  so  near  to  his  home  at  this  time,  Wayne 
could  not  even  visit  his  family,  and  saw  them 
but  once,  apparently,  during  the  entire  period. 
This  may  be  judged  from  a  letter  written  to  his 
wife  on  August  26: 

"I  am  peremptorily  forbid  by  His  Excellency 
to  leave  the  army.  My  case  is  hard.  I  am 
obliged  to  do  the  work  of  three  general  officers. 
But  if  it  was  not  the  case,  as  a  general  officer,  I 
could  not  obtain  a  leave  of  absence.  I  must, 
therefore,  in  the  most  pressing  manner,  request 
you  to  meet  me  tomorrow  evening  at  Naaman's 
Creek.  Pray  bring  Mr.  Eobinson,  with  my  lit- 
tle son  and  daughter." 

About  three  days  after  the  writing  of  this 
letter  to  his  wife,  Wayne  had  arrived  with  his 
division,  which  had  followed  him  from  Wash- 
65 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

ington's  camp,  at  the  American  position  near 
Wilmington.  There  preparations  were  imme- 
diately begun  to  meet  the  enemy's  forces,  which 
were  reported  advancing  from  the  landing  place 
on  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  eastern  shore  of  the 
Brandywine  River  was  selected  as  the  most 
advantageous  position  to  meet  the  expected 
attack,  or,  at  least,  to  prevent  the  British  forces 
from  crossing  the  river,  as  was  expected,  at  a 
place  known  as  Chad's  Ford.  Wayne  evidently 
examined  the  ground  thoroughly,  and  made  a 
strong  recommendation  to  Washington,  in  a 
letter  dated  September  2,  that  a  strong  de- 
tachment of  the  Anfiftrifta.il  army  be  detailed  to 
make  a  flank  attack  on  the  British  as  they  were 
attempting  to  advance.  This  opinion  he  forti- 
fied by  copious  references  to  the  strategies  of 
Csesar  and  other  great  commanders  of  the  past, 
who  by  sudden  flank  movements  had  succeeded 
in  routing  and  demoralizing  an  already  all-but- 
victorious  enemy.  The  plan  did  not  seem  to 
have  appealed  to  Washington 's  judgment,  since 
he  directed  the  plan  of  battle  on  an  entirely 
different  theory.  The  American  forces  drew 
66 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  '77 

up  near  Chad's  Ford,  and  attempted  to  pre- 
vent the  enemy  from  reaching  it,  but,  in  spite 
of  exceptional  bravery  and  a  most  determined 
defense,  were  finally  compelled  to  retreat. 

In  this  fight,  as  was  quite  to  his  liking,  un- 
doubtedly, Wayne  bore  the  brunt  of  the  severest 
fighting,  his  force  being  directly  fronted  by 
the  seven  thousand  Hessians  under  Baron  Wil- 
helm  von  Knypenhausen,  who  vainly  attempted 
until  sunset  to  pass  by  and  gain  the  ford.  Then, 
however,  he  was  compelled  to  retire,  even 
though  in  good  order,  because  of  the  fact  that 
his  supports  had  been  driven  from  the  field, 
when  the  two  divisions  under  Generals  Sullivan 
and  Greene,  forming  the  right  wing  of  the 
American  line,  had  been  turned  back  by  the 
fierceness  of  Cornwallis'  assaults.  Wayne  was 
then  compelled  to  retire,  Knypenhausen  being 
in  front  and  Cornwallis  in  the  rear. 

Undoubtedly,  had  it  not  been  for  the  tenacity 
and  courage  of  the  British  regulars,  the  out- 
come would  have  been  different,  perhaps  even 
a  complete  American  victory.  Despite  the  fear 
and  hatred  of  them  felt  by  their  contemporary 
67 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

enemies,  these  " Hessians"  of  Knypenhausen's 
were  a  poor  lot  of  people.  They  were  not  the 
trained  German  soldiers  of  the  present  day, 
but  miserable  creatures,  recruited,  for  the  most 
part,  from  workhouses  and  by  press  gangs,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury in  all  European  countries.  They  were  fre- 
quently compelled  to  fight  for  the  cause  in  which 
they  had  no  earthly  interest,  by  threats  and 
compulsion,  and  large  numbers  of  them  seized 
any  available  opportunities  to  desert.  Wayne 's 
men  deserved  high  credit,  undoubtedly,  for  suc- 
cessfully withstanding  for  so  long  a  time  the 
fierce  assaults  of  an  overwhehningly  superior 
force,  but,  apart  from  the  fact  that,  in  those 
days,  at  least,  it  would  have  taken  a  long  time 
to  kill  and  disable  a  force  of  seven  thousand 
men,  or  even  to  drive  them  off,  they  might 
easily  have  withstood  them  indefinitely.  From 
the  standpoint  of  our  knowledge  of  operations 
in  recent  wars,  with  the  terrible  engines  of 
destruction  now  in  use,  it  seems  difficult,  indeed, 
to  understand  the  conditions  of  military  fight- 
ing at  the  period  of  the  Revolution.  Usually, 
68 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  '77 

in  musketry  fighting,  at  least,  the  two  opposing 
forces  would  line  np  opposite  one  another  and 
continue  firing  until  an  opportunity  appeared 
to  adopt  other  tactics.  That  such  affrays  were 
not  more  bloody  than  they  were  can  be  ascribed 
only  to  the  inefficiency  at  long  range  of  the  mus- 
kets of  the  period,  combined  with  general  poor 
marksmanship.  Thus,  as  records  show,  one 
regiment  engaged  at  Brandywine — the  Thir- 
teenth Pennsylvania,  commanded  by  Colonel 
Walter  Stewart — lost  but  sixteen  men  in  this 
battle  and  in  the  later  affray  at  Germantown. 
The  nature  of  the  fighting  done  by  this  corps 
may  be  judged  from  the  following  account  left 
by  one  of  its  lieutenants,  James  MacMichael: 
"We  attacked  the  enemy  at  5:30  p.  M.,  and 
we  were  first  obliged  to  retreat  a  few  yards,  and 
formed  in  an  open  field,  when  we  fought  without 
giving  way  on  either  side  until  dark.  Our  am- 
munition almost  expended,  firing  ceased  on  both 
sides,  when  we  received  orders  to  proceed  to 
Chester.  This  day  for  a  severe  and  excessive 
engagement  exceeded  all  I  ever  saw.  Our  regi- 
ment fought  at  one  stand  about  an  hour  under 
69 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

an  incessant  fire,  and  yet  the  loss  was  less  than 
at  Long  Island,  neither  were  we  so  near  to 
each  other  as  at  Princeton,  our  common  distance 
being  fifty  yards.'* 

Undoubtedly,  the  greatest  danger  to  such 
a  force  would  have  been  its  envelopment  by  the 
enemy,  with  close-quarters  fighting,  in  which 
bayonets  would  be  used  and  the  sheer  physical 
force  of  a  massed  weight  of  men  would  have 
been  the  greatest  factor  on  either  side.  It  was 
to  avoid  this  very  disaster — the  speedy  crush- 
ing out  of  its  life  by  the  superior  numbers  of 
the  enemy  on  both  sides — that  the  right  wing 
retired  before  Cornwallis,  and  later,  also,  the 
center,  under  Wayne  himself,  before  the  hordes 
of  Knypenhausen.  Wayne 's  retreat  did  cover 
the  rear  of  Sullivan  and  Greene,  discouraging 
any  attempt  to  follow  by  the  British  regulars. 
Thus  the  American  forces  were  able  to  retire 
in  good  order,  even  retrieving  several  pieces  of 
artillery  which  had  been  deserted  on  the  field. 
A  spirited  account  of  the  rescue  of  the  guns  is 
left  for  us  by  one  of  the  American  officers 
(Colonel  William  Chambers),  who  writes: 
70 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  '77 

"The  general  sent  orders  for  onr  artillery  to 
retreat,  and  ordered  me  to  cover  it  with  a  part 
of  my  regiment.  It  was  done,  but,  to  my  sur- 
prise, the  artillerymen  had  run  and  left  the 
howitzer  behind.  The  two  pieces  went  up  the 
road  protected  by  about  sixty  of  my  men,  who 
had  very  warm  work,  but  brought  them  safe.  I 
then  ordered  another  party  to  fly  to  the  howitzer 
and  bring  it  off.  Captain  Buchanan,  Lieutenant 
Simpson,  and  Lieutenant  Douglass  went  imme- 
diately to  the  gun,  and  the  men  following  their 
example,  I  covered  them  with  the  few  I  had 
remaining  [Wayne  aimed  and  fired  one  of  the 
field  pieces  himself] ;  but  before  this  could  be 
done  the  main  body  of  the  foe  came  within 
thirty  yards  and  kept  up  the  most  terrible  fire 
ever  heard  in  America,  though  with  very  little 
loss  on  our  side.  I  brought  all  the  brigade 
artillery  safely  off,  and  I  hope  to  see  them  again 
fired  at  the  scoundrels.  Yet  we  retreated  to  the 
next  height  in  good  order  in  the  midst  of  a 
very  heavy  fire  of  cannon  and  small-arms.  Not 
thirty  yards  distant  we  formed  to  receive  them, 
but  they  did  not  choose  to  follow." 
71 


CHAPTER  VII 
FROM  WHITEHORSE  TAVERN  TO  GERMANTOWN 

THE  American  forces  retired  in  good  order, 
and  that  same  night  encamped  at  Chester, 
eleven  miles  from  the  field  of  battle.  On  the 
following  day  they  marched  sixteen  miles  to 
Schuylkill  Falls,  with  the  intention  of  forming 
a  junction  with  Washington's  army  and  barring 
the  road  to  Philadelphia.  In  the  operations  pre- 
ceding the  occupation  of  that  city  by  the  British 
there  seem  to  have  been  a  long  series  of  un- 
fortunate circumstances.  Letters  containing 
important  commands  were  lost,  or  captured  by 
the  enemy,  and  Wayne,  Greene,  and  other  com- 
manders were  left  to  follow  former  orders,  to 
the  disarrangement  of  Washington's  astutely 
conceived  plans  to  oppose  the  advance.  But 
for  such  unfortunate  occurrences,  coupled  with 
the  information  given  to  the  enemy  by  Tory 
spies,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  British 
72 


WHITEHORSE  TAVERN— GERMANTOWN 

could,  even  then,  have  been  held  off.  This  opin- 
ion seems  to  have  been  shared  by  contemporary 
writers,  among  them  Wayne  himself,  who  re- 
cords in  one  of  his  numerous  letters  of  the 
action  near  Pawling  Mill  that,  but  for  several 
unfortunate  causes  of  confusion,  they  might 
have  achieved  a  "victory  that  in  all  human 
probability  would  have  put  an  end  to  the  Ameri- 
can war." 

Such  explanations  of  conditions  are  neces- 
sary, in  order  to  explain  the  apparent  derelic- 
tion of  General  Wayne,  which  led  to  his  trial 
by  court-martial  on  serious  charges  specifying 
neglect  of  duty.  These  charges  grew  out  of 
a  most  unfortunate  affair:  the  attempted  sur- 
prise of  his  camp,  known  to  history  as  the 
"Paoli  Massacre."  Wayne,  according  to 
orders  from  General  Washington,  had  en- 
camped his  division  at  a  point  on  the  old  Lan- 
caster road,  midway  •  between  the  Paoli  and 
Warren  taverns,  in  order  to  be  in  position  to 
attack  the  British  rear  guard  on  the  following 
morning,  it  being  his  intention  to  capture  its 
baggage  train.  He  had  advanced  with  the 
73 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

greatest  secrecy,  as  was  necessary  in  any  such 
undertaking,  but  missed  the  golden  opportunity 
to  lead  a  brilliant  and,  perhaps,  successful  ac- 
tion through  the  treachery  of  some  Tory  spies, 
who  betrayed  the  location  of  his  encampment. 
Consequently,  the  British  rear  guard  com- 
mander determined  in  his  turn  upon  a  surprise 
attack,  which  was  partially  successful,  al- 
though, as  Wayne  claims,  and  his  superiors 
were  convinced  on  his  representation,  he  had 
been  previously  informed  of  the  intended  at- 
tack and  posted  his  guards  with  his  usual  care. 
The  enemy  came  on  in  such  numbers,  however, 
that  they  were  able  to  "rush"  the  guards,  and 
were  upon  the  camp  before  the  formation  of 
troops  had  been  completed.  Indeed,  as  one  his- 
torian remarks,  they  had  "a  force  so  large  that 
two  of  the  British  regiments  of  which  it  was 
composed  were  not  engaged  in  the  horrible  work 
in  which  the  rest  were  so  conspicuous,  their 
services  not  being  required."  Wayne 's  report 
of  the  affair  is  as  follows : 

"About  11  o'clock  last  evening  (September 
20, 1777)  we  were  alarmed  by  a  firing  from  one 
74 


WHITEHORSE  TAVERN— GERMANTOWN 

of  our  out  guards.  The  division  was  imme- 
diately formed,  which  was  no  sooner  done  than 
a  firing  began  on  our  right  flank.  I  thought 
proper  to  order  the  division  to  file  off  by  the 
left,  except  the  infantry  and  two  or  three  regi- 
ments nearest  to  where  the  attack  began,  in 
order  to  favor  our  retreat.  By  this  time  the 
enemy  and  we  were  not  more  than  ten  yards 
distant.  A  well-directed  fire  mutually  took 
place,  followed  by  a  charge  of  bayonet.  Num- 
bers fell  on  each  side.  We  then  drew  off  a  little 
distance,  and  formed  a  front  to  oppose  to  theirs. 
They  did  not  think  prudent  to  push  matters 
further.  Part  of  the  division  are  a  little  scat- 
tered,  but  are  collecting  fast.  We  have  saved 
all  our  artillery,  ammunition  and  stores,  except 
one  or  two  wagons  belonging  to  the  commis- 
sary's department." 

With  the  curious  reluctance,  so  often  noted  by 
contemporary  writers,  the  British  troops 
neglected  to  follow  up  the  advantage  already 
gained,  although,  with  their  superior  force, 
they  might  have  inflicted  even  further  damage 
upon  the  American  lines.  As  at  Brandywine, 
75 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

and  at  other  engagements  still  to  be  recorded, 
the  probabilities  are  that  a  determined  advance 
upon  the  retreating  foe  would  have  transformed 
defeat  into  a  rout,  and  made  future  progress 
far  easier.  We  must  not  forget,  however,  that 
any  such  pushing  on  after  an  advantage  meant 
precisely  one  thing,  "cold  steel" — and  man- 
to-man  fighting  is  distinctly  repugnant  to  the 
modern  soldier.  It  is  one  of  the  results  fol- 
lowing the  use  of  firearms  as  the  principal 
element  in  battle.  Nothing  could  better  illus- 
trate this  contention  than  the  fact  that  this 
affair  has  been  always  known  as  a  "massacre." 
Sixty-one  Americans  were  killed,  mostly  by  the 
bayonet,  and  the  "atrocity"  of  the  thing  long 
oppressed  patriotic  minds  and  imaginations. 
The  same  popular  "horror"  was  also  visited, 
in  part,  upon  Wayne  himself,  who  was  roundly 
blamed,  first,  for  pitching  his  camp  so  near  to 
the  enemy,  and  second,  for  providing  insufficient 
guards  to  prevent  the  disorder  following  an 
attack.  A  court  of  inquiry  found  against  him 
on  both  these  charges,  and  he  immediately  de- 
manded a  court  martial,  by  which  he  was  thor- 
76 


WHITEHORSE  TAVERN— GERMANTOWN 

oughly  acquitted.  His  defense  was  that  his 
camp  was  at  least  two  miles  from  that  of  the 
enemy,  and  that  it  could  not  have  been  other- 
wise located,  in  obedience  to  Washington's 
commands,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  was 
expecting  to  make  a  junction  with  the  force 

under  General  William  Smallwood.     He  was 

» 

also  vindicated  on  the  matter  of  properly  placed 
guards.  The  entire  affair  consisted  in  the  con- 
fusion due  to  loss  of  letters  from  Washington, 
directing  changes  of  plans  outlined  in  previous 
orders.  These  letters  probably  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy;  and  enabled  them  to  cir- 
cumvent all  movements  made  by  Wayne. 

Thus,  three  times  within  a  week  Washington 
had  changed  his  orders,  on  account  of  the  chang- 
ing conditions  in  the  situation.  On  September 
15  Wayne  had  arrived  at  the  White  Horse 
Tavern  on  the  Lancaster  Road,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  carrying  out  his  orders  to  make  a  flank 
movement  against  the  British  army  as  it  at- 
tempted to  ford  the  river.  Here  a  small  skirmish 
occurred  on  the  following  day.  On  the  seven- 
teenth the  orders  were  again  changed,  so  that, 
77 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

as  already  stated,  Wayne  should  be  able  to  take 
a  position  from  which  he  could  attack  the 
enemy's  rear  while  the  main  army  under  "Wash- 
ington should  resist  its  passage  of  the  fords. 
Finally,  both  orders  were  rescinded,  and  Wayne 
was  ordered  to  join  Washington  at  Potts' 
Grove.  Owing,  perhaps,  in  part  to  the  con- 
fusion following  the  non-delivery  of  these  let- 
ters of  command,  the  original  plans  miscarried, 
and  Howe  forced  his  way  to  Philadelphia.  Be- 
fore attempting  to  occupy  the  city,  however,  the 
British  commander  dispatched  large  detach- 
ments of  his  troops  to  reduce  the  American 
fortifications  at  Billingsport,  Mud  Island  and 
Red  Bank  on  the  Delaware  River,  in  order  to 
gain  free  access  for  the  fleet  in  bringing  up 
supplies.  Thus,  with  an  apparent  lack  of  good 
judgment,  he  left  himself  in  a  weakened  con- 
dition in  his  camp  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
city.  Washington,  acting  on  his  own  opinion, 
and  against  the  strongly  urged  judgments  of 
ten  out  of  his  thirteen  general  officers — only 
Generals  Wayne,  Smallwood  and  Scott  favored 
it — determined  to  attack  the  British  before 
78 


WHITEHORSE  TAVERN— GERMANTOWN 

their  detached  columns  could  return  to  camp, 
and  without  waiting  for  the  reinforcements  ex- 
pected from  the  north, 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  line  of  battle  the 
right  wing  was  assigned  to  the  command  of 
General  Sullivan,  to  -whose  division  that  of 
Wayne  was  also  added.  The  left  wing  was 
under  the  command  of  General  Greene,  but, 
most  unfortunately,  did  not  succeed  in  reaching 
the  field  in  time  to  join  in  the  battle.  Several 
other  corps  failed  to  make  a  good  showing  in 
the  fight,  with  the  result  that,  as  seems  to  have 
been  his  fate  on  numerous  occasions,  Wayne's 
men  bore  the  brunt  of  nearly  the  hardest  fight- 
ing of  the  day.  Indeed,  had  all  the  troops  been 
of  the  same  mettle,  and  under  as  good  discipline 
as  those  under  Wayne,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
the  British  army  would  have  been  utterly- 
crushed. 

The  most  interesting  part  of  the  whole  affair, 
for  the  present,  at  least,  is  the  experience  of 
Wayne  and  his  men.  Here,  again,  as  in  many 
other  instances,  he  has  left  us  a  clear  account 
of  the  day's  doings  in  his  familiar  and  graphic 
79 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

style.    In  a  letter  to  his  wife,  written  two  days 
after  the  fight,  he  writes: 

"On  the  4th  instant  at  the  dawn  of  day  we 
attacked  General  Howe's  army  at  the  upper 
end  of  Germantown.  The  action  soon  became 
general.  When  we  advanced  on  the  enemy  with 
charged  bayonets,  they  broke  at  first  without 
waiting  to  receive  us,  but  soon  formed  again, 
when  a  heavy  and  well-directed  fire  took  place 
on  each  side.  The  enemy  again  gave  way,  but, 
being  supported  by  the  grenadiers,  returned 
to  the  charge.  General  Sullivan's  division  and 
Conway's  brigade  were  at  this  time  engaged 
to  the  right  or  west  of  Germantown,  whilst  my 
division  had  the  whole  right  wing  of  the  enemy's 
army  to  encounter,  on  the  left  or  east  of  the 
town,  two-thirds  of  our  army  being  then  too 
far  to  the  east  to  afford  us  any  assistance.  How- 
ever, the  unparalleled  bravery  of  the  troops 
surmounted  every  difficulty,  and  the  enemy  re- 
treated in  the  utmost  confusion.  Our  people, 
remembering  the  action  of  the  night  of  the 
20th  of  September,  near  the  Warren,  pushed 
on  with  their  bayonets,  and  took  ample  ven- 
80 


WHITEHORSE  TAVERN— GERMANTOWN 

geance  for  that  night's  work.  Our  officers  ex- 
erted themselves  to  save  many  of  the  poor 
wretches  who  were  crying  for  mercy,  but  to  lit- 
tle purpose;  the  rage  and  fury  of  the  soldiers 
were  not  to  be  restrained  for  some  time,  at 
least  not  until  great  numbers  of  the  enemy 
fell  by  our  bayonets.  The  fog,  together  with 
the  smoke  occasioned  by  our  cannon  and  mus- 
ketry, made  it  almost  as  dark  as  night.  Our 
people,  mistaking  one  another  for  the  enemy, 
frequently  exchanged  several  shots  before  they 
discovered  their  error.  We  had  now  pushed 
the  enemy  near  three  miles,  and  were  in  pos- 
session of  their  whole  encampment,  when  a  large 
body  of  troops  were  discovered  advancing  on 
our  left  flank,  which  being  taken  for  the  enemy, 
we  retreated.  After  retreating  for  about  two 
miles,  we  found  it  was  our  own  people,  who  were 
originally  designed  to  attack  the  right  wing  of 
the  enemy's  army.  The  fog  and  this  mistake 
prevented  us  from  following  a  victory  that  in 
all  human  probability  would  have  put  an  end 
to  the  American  war.  General  Howe  for  a  long 
time  could  not  persuade  himself  that  we  had 
81 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

run  from  victory,  but  the  fog  clearing  up  he 
ventured  to  follow  us  with  all  his  infantry, 
grenadiers  and  light  horse,  with  some  field 
pieces.  I,  at  this  time,  was  in  the  rear,  and, 
finding  Mr.  Howe  determined  to  push  us  hard, 
drew  up  in  order  of  battle,  and  waited  his  ap- 
proach. When  he  advanced  near  we  gave  him  a 
few  cannon  shot  with  some  musketry,  which 
caused  him  to  run  with  the  utmost  confusion. 
This  ended  the  action  of  the  day,  which  con- 
tinued without  intermission  from  daylight  until 
near  twelve  o'clock." 

"Wayne's  account  is  graphically  supplemented 
by  another  from  the  pen  of  General  Hunter  of 
the  British  army.  He  writes : 

"The  first  that  General  Howe  knew  of  Wash- 
ington's marching  against  us  was  by  his  at- 
tacking ns  at  daybreak.  General  Wayne  com- 
manded the  advance  and  fully  expected  to  be 
avenged  for  the  surprise  we  had  given  him. 
When  the  first  shots  were  fired  at  our  pickets, 
so  much  had  we  all  Wayne's  affair  in  remem- 
brance that  the  battalion  were  out  under  arms 
in  a  minute.  .  .  .  Just  as  the  battalion  f  ormedf 
82 


WHITEHORSE  TAVERN— GERMANTOWN 

the  pickets  came  in  and  said  the  enemy  were  ad- 
vancing in  force.  They  had  barely  joined  the 
battalion  when  we  heard  a  loud  cry,  'Have  at 
the  bloodhounds,  revenge  Wayne's  affair!'  and 
they  immediately  fired  a  volley.  .  .  .  We 
charged  them  twice  till  the  battalion  was  so 
reduced  by  killed  and  wounded  that  the  bugle 
was  sounded  to  retf eat ;  indeed,  had  we  not  re- 
treated at  the  time  we  did  we  should  all  have 
been  taken  or  killed,  as  two  columns  of  the 
enemy  had  nearly  got  round  our  flank.  But 
this  was  the  first  time  we  had  ever  retreated 
from  the  Americans,  and  it  was  with  great  dif- 
ficulty we  could  get  the  men  to  obey  our  orders. 
"The  enemy  were  kept  so  long  in  check  that 
two  brigades  had  advanced  to  the  entrance  of 
Beggarstown.  when  they  met  our  battalion  re- 
treating. By  this  time  General  Howe  had  come 
up,  and  seeing  the  battalion  retreating,  all 
broken,  he  got  into  a  passion,  and  exclaimed, 
'For  shame,  Light  Infantry,  I  never  saw  you 
retreat  before.  Form!  Form!  It  is  only  a 
scouting  party. '  However,  he  was  quickly  con- 
vinced that  it  was  more  than  a  scouting  party 
83 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

as  the  heads  of  the  enemy's  columns  soon  ap- 
peared. One  coming  through  Beggarstown  with 
three  pieces  of  cannon  in  their  front  imme- 
diately fired  with  grape  at  the  crowd  that  was 
standing  with  General  Howe  under  a  large 
chestnut  tree.  I  think  I  never  saw  people  enjoy 
a  discharge  of  grape  before,  but  we  really  felt 
pleased  to  see  the  enemy  make  such  an  appear- 
ance, and  to  hear  the  grape  rattle  about  the 
Commander-in-Chief's  ears,  after  he  had  ac- 
cused the  battalion  of  having  run  away  from  a 
scouting  party." 


CHAPTER  VILE 
VALLEY  FORGE  AND  THE  LONG  DARK  DAYS 

IN  spite  of  the  gallant  behavior  of  the  Ameri- 
can troops  at  the  Battle  of  Grennantown,  in 
which,  as  Wayne  writes,  they  were  all  but  vic- 
torious, or,  at  least,  must  have  been,  but  for  cer- 
tain untoward  happenings  and  ill-judged  ar- 
rangements, the  British  army  succeeded  in  oc- 
cupying Philadelphia.  The  next  reverse  of  the 
American  cause  lay  in  the  capture  of  the  forts 
on  the  Delaware  Eiver,  which  had  hitherto 
effectually  prevented  the  British  ships  from 
reaching  the  army  at  Philadelphia  with  sup- 
plies. In  the  first  place,  lack  of  sufficient  avail- 
able forces  for  defense  had  led  early  to  the 
abandonment  of  the  post  at  Billingsport,  in 
order  to  strengthen  those  at  Bed  Bank  and 
Mud  Island  nearer  to  the  city.  Both  these  places 
had  been  effectively  fortified,  and  were  able  to 
withstand  a  determined  attack  by  a  large  force 
85 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

of  "Hessian"  troops  on  October  22,  repulsing 
them  finally  with  the  loss  of  200  men  and  their 
commander,  Count  Donop.  With  the  intention 
of  applying  a  more  promising  method  of  attack, 
Howe  then  planted  a  strong  battery  on  Province 
Island,  opposite  to  Fort  Mifflin  on  Mud  Island, 
and  made  elaborate  preparations  to  bombard 
the  works.  Washington,  although  strongly 
urged  by  several  of  his  advisors — Wayne  among 
them — to  assault  and  destroy  these  new  works, 
declined,  on  the  ground  that  his  forces  were 
insufficient,  and  that  nothing  could  be  done  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  reinforcements  from  the 
north.  In  spite  of  this  decision  of  the  Com- 
mander, Wayne  made  the  bold  suggestion  that 
he  be  allowed  with  his  corps  to  attempt  the 
capture  of  Howe's  batteries,  but  this  proposal 
also  was  rejected.  So,  with  the  policy  of  cau- 
tion consistently  adhered  to,  the  result  was  that 
Howe  completed  his  preparations  without  in- 
terference, and,  in  his  own  good  time,  proceeded 
to  cannonade  Fort  Mifflin,  compelling  the  gar- 
rison to  withdraw,  after  a  gallant  defense, 
simply  because  there  was  no  fort  left  to  defend. 
86 


VALLEY  FORGE 

This  defense  Washington  characterized  as  cal- 
culated to  "  reflect  the  highest  honor  upon  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  garrison." 

It  seems  regrettable,  indeed,  that  no  attack 
on  the  British  battery  was  attempted,  and  that 
General  Wayne  thus  missed  an  opportunity  to 
add  still  further  to  the  record  of  his  glorious 
deeds.  That  he  would  have  given  an  excellent 
account  of  himself  in  any  such  attempt  cannot 
be  doubted.  He  might  even  have  been  success- 
ful. Fort  Mifflin  feU  on  October  15,  1777,  thus 
closing  a  campaign  full  of  brilliant  deeds  of 
bravery  neutralized  by  one  long  succession  of 
blunders  and  miscarriages  of  plans,  which 
served  to  snatch  victory  from  the  very  grasp 
of  the  American  patriots  over  and  over 
again. 

The  season  was  then  so  far  advanced  that 
further  operations  had  to  be  delayed  until  the 
spring  of  1778,  and  the  dreary  and  dismal  days 
of  Valley  Forge  began.  While,  as  there  can  be 
no  doubt,  the  American  cause  was  largely  ham- 
pered by  actual  poverty  and  the  difficulty  of 
always  obtaining  necessary  supplies  at  the  time 
87 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

required,  it  is  also  humiliating  to  record  that 
further  obstacles  were  interposed  by  political 
corruption,  official  incompetence  and  an  almost 
unbelievable  tendency  to  subordinate  public 
necessity  to  personal  considerations.  Thus, 
while  Washington's  army,  which  had  been  so 
carefully  preserved  from  the  risks  of  unsup- 
ported attacks  on  Province  Island,  and  other 
points,  were  suffering  at  Valley  Forge  from 
lack  of  clothing,  shoes,  and  even  food,  all  kinds 
of  preposterous  excuses  were  made  for  the 
wanton  delay  in  supplying  these  necessities. 
Particularly  conspicuous  for  dereliction  in  this 
respect  was  the  Clothier-General  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, a  certain  James  Mease,  who  actually  re- 
fused to  supply  the  clothing  needed  for  the  sol- 
diers, without  a  properly  attested  Order  of 
Council,  and  even  then  persisted  in  all  kinds 
of  delays  until  the  winter  was  passed  and 
spring  again  opened. 

Unless  history  entirely  misrepresents  this 
gentleman,  he  was  a  wholly  incompetent  block- 
head, swelled  with  the  pride  of  an  important 
office,  and  far  more  solicitous  to  obtain  personal 
88 


VALLEY  FOEGE 

adulation,  and  to  persist  in  his  own  methods  of 
doing  things,  than  to  see  that  the  soldiers  were 
properly  cared  for.  He  seems  to  have  spent  a 
large  part  of  his  time  in  traveling  from  home, 
and  on  his  return  to  have  observed  a  policy, 
which  he  may  have  considered  " economical," 
of  retaining  as  much  cloth  as  possible  in  stor- 
age. Tn  striking  contrast  to  such  a  person 
stands  the  heroic  figure  of  Anthony  Wayne, 
who,  unmindful,  as  usual,  of  the  hardships  suf- 
fered by  himself,  wrote  constantly,  and  at  great 
length,  to  the  authorities,  urging,  protesting, 
complaining  and  demanding,  as  action  on  the 
matter  of  supplies  was  constantly  delayed. 
From  January  until  April  he  wrote  these  let- 
ters to  anyone  and  everyone  who  could  at  all 
avail  to  assist  him,  if  so  disposed;  to  Richard 
Peters,  Secretary  of  War,  to  Thomas  Wharton, 
President  of  Pennsylvania,  to  the  Speaker  of 
the  State  Assembly,  and  to  the  nearly  unap- 
proachable Clothier-General  himself.  But  even 
the  best  and  ablest  of  these  people  seems  to 
have  been  so  hampered  in  his  powers  by  party 
conflicts,  incompetence  in  responsible  positions 
89 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

and  general  "red  tape,"  that  nothing  resulted 
from  any  of  them  save  promises  and  excuses, 
the  latter  almost  as  ingenious  as  absurd.  Thus, 
his  appeal  to  the  State  President  (or  Governor) 
is  answered  by  the  allegation  that  the  clothing 
asked  for  had  been  prepared,  but  that  its  de- 
livery was  being  held  up  because  of  the  "want 
of  buttons."  On  another  occasion  the  excuse 
is  that  an  "immense  quantity  of  clothing"  had 
been  ordered,  and  that  its  non-delivery  was  a 
real  mystery.  In  order  to  expedite  matters 
somewhat,  Wayne  ordered  and  purchased  a 
quantity  of  cloth  for  uniforms,  which  he  pur- 
posed having  made  up  in  camp,  but  he  was  in- 
formed that  the  merchants  declined  to  deliver 
"until  they  know  where  to  receive  their  pay," 
and  that  "the  Clothier-General  has  peremp- 
torily refused  paying  Col.  Miller's  orders  in 
favor  of  these  merchants." 

Late  in  March,  after  nearly  three  months  of 
hunger,  cold  and  nakedness  in  camp,  Wayne 
dispatched  Colonel  Stephen  Bayard  to  Lancas- 
ter with  requisitions  for  the  sorely  needed 
supplies.  Nearly  four  weeks  later,  on  April 
90 


VALLEY  FORGE 

23,  this  officer  wrote  from  Lancaster,  as  fol- 
lows: 

"Mr.  Mease  came  home  yesterday,  and  con- 
sented at  last  to  let  me  have  linen  for  twelve- 
hundred  shirts,  provided  it  could  be  made  up 
here.  Mr.  Howell,  Major  Werts  and  myself  en- 
gaged it  should,  and  for  that  purpose  we  have 
been  in  and  through  every  family  in  this  town,  in 
order  to  get  them  made  up,  and  I  have  the  satis- 
faction to  inform  you  that  they  are  to  be  ready 
in  eight  days  from  this.  As  the  expenses  of  stay- 
ing here  are  great,  I  would  gladly  know  whether 
I  must  remain,  and  bring  them  with  me,  or 
come  immediately  to  camp.  It  gives  me  pain 
to  relate  the  difficulty  of  getting  anything  from 
Mease.  Waiting  his  slow  motion,  dancing  at- 
tendance, etc.,  are  insufferable.  Had  I  full 
powers,  it  should  be  otherwise,  but  he  prides 
himself  upon  his  being  confined  to  no  particular 
state." 

Even  at  this  late  date  matters  progressed 
with  the  familiar  slowness.  Supplies  of  necessi- 
ties that  should  have  been  promptly  dispatched 
to  camp  continued  to  come  in  in  small  quanti- 
91 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

ties.  On  one  occasion,  Wayne  relates  in  a 
pathetic  letter  to  Mr.  Peters  the  whole  situation 
and  gives  a  pen  picture  of  Valley  Forge:  "I 
hoped  to  be  able  to  clothe  the  division  under  my 
command,  but  the  distresses  of  the  other  part 
of  the  troops  belonging  to  this  state  were  such 
as  to  beggar  all  description.  Humanity  obliged 
me  to  divide  what  would  have  in  part  clothed  six 
hundred  men  among  thirteen  regiments,  which 
was  also  necessary  in  order  to  prevent  mutiny." 

In  another  letter  to  Mr.  Peters,  he  writes, 
after  a  brief  absence :  * '  On  my  arrival  in  camp 
I  found  the  division  in  a  much  worse  condition 
for  the  want  of  clothing  and  every  other  matter 
than  I  had  expected.  I  am  endeavoring  to 
remedy  the  defects,  and  hope  soon  to  restore 
order,  introduce  discipline  and  content,  all  which 
was  much  wanting  and  desertion  prevailing  fast. 
I  flatter  myself  that  I  have  so  much  the  esteem 
and  confidence  of  my  troops  that  desertion  will 
no  longer  take  place.  I  am  happy  to  inform  you 
that  there  is  not  a  single  instance  since  my 
return." 

In  another  place  he  remarks  in  a  way  that 


VALLEY  FORGE 

shows  the  depths  of  misery  achieved  at  the 
camp :  "I  am  not  fond  of  danger,  but  I  would 
most  cheerfully  agree  to  enter  into  action  once 
every  week  in  place  of  visiting  each  hut  of  my 
encampment  (which  is  my  constant  practice), 
and  where  objects  strike  my  eye  and  ear  whose 
wretched  condition  beggars  all  description.  The 
whole  army  is  sick  and  crawling  with  vermin." 

The  bitter  fruits  of  official  incompetence  and 
corruption,  including  the  excuseless  blunder  of 
retaining  such  creatures  as  Mease  in  important 
positions,  and  the  preposterous  wranglings  of 
opposing  parties  in  the  state  councils,  had 
doomed  hundreds  of  brave  men  to  the  hardships 
mentioned.  For  they  did  not  suffer  from  cold 
alone,  nor  even  from  difficulty  in  always  secur- 
ing food,  as  was  perhaps  inevitable,  but  from 
the  utter  lack  of  necessities  that  could  readily 
have  been  supplied  by  a  well-organized  and  effi- 
cient management,  for  the  government,  though 
sometimes  pressed  for  money,  was  by  no  means 
bankrupt.  As  late  as  May  4, 1778,  Wayne  wrote 
to  President  Wharton : 

"Enclosed  is  the  return  of  the  thirteen  regi- 
93 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

ments  belonging  to  the  state  of  Pennsylvania. 
You  will  observe  that  they  are  very  weak.  The 
chief  part  of  those  returned  sick  at  present  is 
for  want  of  clothing,  being  too  naked  to  appear 
on  the  parade.  Our  officers  in  particular  are  in 
a  most  wretched  condition.  I  can't  conceive 
the  reason  why  they  are  not  supplied.  I  pur- 
chased cloth,  etc.,  at  York,  last  January  suffi- 
cient to  clothe  a  great  part  of  them,  but  have  not 
heard  what  has  been  done  with  it.  I  know  it 
must  be  distressing  to  your  excellency  to  hear 
so  many  repetitions  of  our  wants,  but  whatever 
pain  it  may  give  you,  I  hourly  experience  much 
more  from  the  complaints  and  view  of  worthy 
fellows,  who  are  conscious  of  meriting  some  at- 
tention, and  whose  wretched  condition  can  not 
be  worse.  They  think  any  change  must  be  for 
the  better,  and  too  many  have  risked  desertion. 
The  enclosed  order  has  lately  put  some  stop 
to  it,  and  had  we  clothing  I  am  confident  that 
we  should  not  have  any  more  leave  us,  where  we 
now  have  twenty." 

In  view  of  all  the  difficulties  besetting  him 
daily,  it  is  scarcely  remarkable  that  Wayne 
94 


VALLEY  FORGE 

writes  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Peters,  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  January,  as  nearly  a  complaint  as 
ever  escaped  him.  "I  am  too  much  interested 
in  the  freedom  and  happiness  of  America,"  he 
says,  "to  withdraw  from  the  army  at  this 
crisis.  I  believe  I  have  a  much  greater  share 
of  care  and  difficulty  than  ought  to  come  to  the 
proportion  of  one  officer.  Unfortunately, 
there  is  no  other  general  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Line  belonging  to  this  army.  "We  derive  but 
little  assistance  from  the  civil  authority,  and 
every  let  and  hindrance  in  the  power  of  the 
Clothier-General  seems  to  be  thrown  in  the  way. 
So  that  I  am  almost  tempted  to.  But  I  will, 
at  all  events,  provide  for  my  poor  fellows  before 
I  consult  my  own  ease  and  happiness." 

There  was  never  any  intention  in  Anthony 
"Wayne's  mind  of  resigning.  He  only  hoped  to 
convey  the  bitterness  of  his  feelings.  But 
while  he  and  other  commanding  officers  were 
engaged  in  struggling  to  keep  their  soldiers 
from  dying  of  starvation,  cold  and  disease, 
Congress  saw  fit  to  still  further  embarrass  their 
efforts  to  secure  order  and  efficiency  by  the 
95 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

passage  of  laws  cutting  the  pay  of  military  offi- 
cers, or  rather  providing  that  they  receive  their 
remuneration  for  services  in  the  form  of  half 
pay  for  seven  years  after  the  end  of  the  war. 
This  may  have  been  a  necessary  step — it  prob- 
ably was,  in  the  almost  exhausted  state  of 
finances,  but  it  created  great  opposition  and 
disaffection  among  those  immediately  affected, 
many  of  whom  were  by  no  means  wealthy,  none 
of  them  favorably  impressed  with  the  idea  of 
the  buying  power  of  the  then  greatly  depreci- 
ated currency.  Wayne,  as  usual,  sincere  patriot 
that  he  was,  took  the  most  favorable  view  of  the 
matter,  and  registered  no  complaints  whatever 
on  his  own  behalf.  His  remarks  upon  the 
matter  were  concerned  solely  with  the  suffer- 
ings of  others.  In  a  letter  to  a  good  friend  of 
his,  Sharp  Delany,  in  May,  1778,  he  writes : 

"The  difficulty  I  experience  in  keeping  good 
officers  from  resigning,  and  causing  them  to 
do  their  duty  in  the  line,  has  almost  determined 
me  to  give  it  up,  and  return  to  my  Sabine  fields, 
but  I  first  wish  to  see  the  enemy  sail  for  the 
"West  Indies.  .  .  .  For  my  own  part,  I  have  a 
96 


VALLEY  FOEGE 

competency,  and  neither  look  nor  wish  for  any 
gratuity,  other  than  liberty  and  honor;  but  the 
discontented  say  that  seven  years'  half  pay 
would  not  near  make  up  for  the  depreciation  of 
the  money.*' 

Only  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  the  great 
devotion  to  a  great  cause  kept  the  little  army 
together  during  the  dark  days  of  the  winter 
of  '77. 


CHAPTER  IX 
BEAR  GUARD  FIGHTING  AND  MONMOUTH 

DURING  the  long,  hard  winter  at  Valley 
Forge,  amid  all  the  sufferings  resulting 
from  hardship  and  official  neglect,  such  prep- 
arations as  were  possible  for  soldierly  effi- 
ciency were  constantly  in  progress.  Most  con- 
spicuous, perhaps,  among  these  was  the  engage- 
ment of  Baron  Wilhelm  von  Steuben,  a  Prus- 
sian general  of  high  reputation,  who,  from  gen- 
erous interest  in  the  cause  of  American  liberty, 
had  freely  offered  his  services  to  help  train  the 
army.  Although  without  friends  or  connec- 
tions in  this  country,  and  wholly  ignorant  of 
the  English  language,  he  cheerfully  worked  at 
the  difficult  task  of  drilling  and  training  the  raw 
troops  in  Washington's  camp  in  the  manual  of 
arms  and  the  maneuvers  familiar  to  the  armies 
of  Europe.  He  is  credited  with  promoting 
singular  efficiency  in  bayonet  work — some  have 
98 


EEAE  GUAED  FIGHTING 

said  that  lie  introduced  the  bayonet  to  the 
American  army,  which  seems  to  be  untrue,  as  it 
was  an  inheritance  from  their  British  ancestry. 
But  he  is  to  be  credited,  undoubtedly,  with  orig- 
inating much  of  the  efficiency  displayed  by  the 
troops  in  the  succeeding  campaign.  Such  men 
as  Steuben,  Lafayette,  and  our  own  Wayne, 
who  continued  working  and  fighting  for  an  ideal, 
even  in  the  face  of  all  the  discouragements 
heaped  up  by  nature  and  by  human  rascality, 
are  as  bright  and  shining  lights  in  the  midst 
of  otherwise  cheerless  prospects.  Why  can  not 
the  noble  examples  of  such  heroic  characters 
oftener  excite  the  reverence  and  emulation  of 
the  rest  of  the  world?  They  were  men,  indeed ! 
We  have  learned  already  of  Wayne's  untir- 
ing efforts  to  secure  from  Congress,  as  well  as 
from  the  Government  of  Pennsylvania,  relief 
for  the  sufferings  of  his  soldiers.  We  have  read 
of  the  specious  promises,  pompous  excuses  and 
shifty  evasions  of  public  duty,  not  only  on  the 
part  of  the  inglorious  and  useless  Mease,  but 
even  from  those  who  stood  higher  and  much 
better  in  official  life.  But,  as  if  all  his  labors 
99 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

had  been  in  vain,  and  all  his  protests  and  peti- 
tions unheard,  we  read  in  a  letter  from  Wayne 
to  Sharp  Delany,  under  date  May  13,  1778,  the 
following  piteous  appeal: 

"For  God's  sake  give  us,  if  you  can't  give 
us  anything  else,  give  us  clean  linen  that  we 
may  he  enabled  to  rescue  the  poor,  worthy  fel- 
lows from  the  vermin  which  are  devouring  them. 
.  .  .  Some  hundreds  we  thought  prudent  to 
deposit  some  six  feet  under  ground,  who  have 
died  of  a  disorder  produced  by  a  want  of  cloth- 
ing. The  whole  army  at  present  are  sick  of  the 
same  disorder,  but  the  Pennsylvania  line  seem 
to  be  the  most  infected.  A  pointed  and  speedy 
exertion  of  Congress  or  appointing  another 
doc'r  [doctor?]  may  yet  remove  the  disorder, 
which  once  done  I  pledge  my  reputation  we 
shall  remove  the  enemy.  For  I  would  much 
rather  risk  my  life  and  honor  and  the  fate  of 
America  on  our  present  force  neatly  and  com- 
fortably uniformed  than  on  double  their  number 
covered  with  rags  and  crawling  with  vermin. 
But  I  am  determined  not  to  say  another  word 
on  the  subject" 

100 


REAE  GUARD  FIGHTING 

Even  Anthony  Wayne  had  at  last  reached  the 
limit  of  his  patience  with  official  incompetence 
and  the  criminal  neglect  of  the  brave  men  under 
him.  He  vowed  to  say  no  more  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  no  more  did  he  say.  His  soldiers  went 
forth  in  rags  to  meet  a  well-disciplined  and 
thoroughly  equipped  army,  and,  thanks  almost 
wholly  to  the  inspiration  of  their  brave  com- 
mander, did  more  than  their  duty. 

Until  nearly  the  middle  of  June  the  army 
remained  in  camp,  availing  themselves  of  such 
reliefs  to  their  sufferings  as  were  occasionally 
afforded.  At  the  same  time  the  able-bodied 
were  constantly  drilling  and  maneuvering  under 
the  direction  of  Steuben  and  other  drill  masters. 
In  the  meantime  only  an  occasional  light  skir- 
mish had  occurred  with  the  enemy,  notably  one 
in  the  middle  of  May,  in  which  a  strong  British 
force  from  Philadelphia  attempted  to  flank  and 
surround  a  detachment  of  about  2,500  men, 
sent  under  Lafayette  to  occupy  the  city,  upon 
their  expected  evacuation.  The  Americans 
escaped  without  losses,  but  their  rear  guard, 
backed  by  a  troop  of  Oneida  Indians,  put  the 
101 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

enemy  to  flight  with  some  serious  damage. 
The  long-expected  evacuation  of  Philadelphia 
occurred  on  June  18th,  when  the  entire  British 
army,  under  the  command  of  Sir  Henry  Clin- 
ton, crossed  the  Delaware  River  below  Glouces- 
ter, and  took  its  march  to  the  eastward  through 
New  Jersey.  The  forces,  in  excellent  condi- 
tion, after  a  winter  of  ease  and  comfort  in  the 
city,  consisted  of  about  12,000  men,  and  were 
followed  by  a  baggage  train  twelve  miles  long. 
Three  days  later  Washington,  with  his  entire 
command,  crossed  the  Delaware  above  Trenton, 
and  proceeded  to  cautiously  follow  the  enemy, 
with  a  view  either  to  dispute  his  passage  of  the 
Raritan  River,  or  of  cutting  off  his  baggage 
train.  For  a  considerable  distance  he  paral- 
leled the  British  line  of  march,  sometimes  at  a 
distance  of  only  a  few  miles.  Finally  he  held  a 
council  of  his  generals  to  fix  upon  a  method 
of  attack.  As  usual,  the  majority  of  these  peo- 
ple were  in  favor  of  a  " Fabian  policy/'  as  it 
were,  or  a  continuation  of  extreme  caution  in 
any  moves  to  attack  so  powerful  a  body.  Only 
Wayne,  supported  in  this  case  by  General  John 
102 


BEAE  GUAED  FIGHTING 

Cadwalader,  and  partially  by  Generals  Greene 
and  Lafayette,  advocated  an  immediate  and 
vigorous  attack.  Washington,  as  on  several 
other  occasions,  rejected  the  advice  of  his  other 
officers,  and  adopted  that  given  by  Wayne;  de- 
termining to  attempt  a  surprise  on  the  enemy's 
rear  guard,  so  as  to  harass  the  baggage  train, 
and  capture  as  much  of  it  as  possible.  He  ac- 
cordingly asked  Wayne  to  outline  his  plan  in  a 
letter  to  himself,  and  followed  the  advice  given 
in  all  of  the  main  details. 

The  plan  of  action  adopted  was  that  a  de- 
tachment of  about  5,000  men  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Charles  Lee  and  Marquis  de 
Lafayette  was  ordered  to  hang  on  the  enemy's 
rear,  and  attack  him  as  soon  as  possible  in  the 
morning ;  the  remainder  of  the  army  being  held 
in  reserve  to  support  this  detachment,  in  case 
of  repulse.  For,  as  Wayne  confidently  asserted 
in  his  letter  to  Washington,  the  "  enemy  dare 
not  pursue  success,  lest  they  be  drawn  into  some 
difficulty  from  which  it  would  not  be  easy  for 
them  to  extricate  themselves." 

The  appointment  of  Charles  Lee  to  lead  this 
103 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

attack  was,  if  possible,  nearly  the  greatest  error 
that  could  have  been  committed  at  the  time. 
His  sole  apparent  qualification  for  the  service 
was  that  he  had  been  appointed  by  some  order 
of  official  favoritism  to  the  rank  of  a  major 
general.  But  such  soldierly  qualities  as  he  may 
have  possessed  were  exceeded  by  his  laggard 
methods  and  his  personal  animosities.  The 
latter  evil  trait  was  well  demonstrated  when,  on 
the  morning  of  the  battle  of  Monmouth  (June 
28, 1778),  he  ordered  Wayne  to  proceed  with  a 
detachment  of  1.200  men  and  attack  the  British 
left  rear. 

"This,  Sir,  is  a  post  of  conspicuous  honor, 
worthy  of  so  brave  an  officer  as  yourself,  and  I 
trust  that  you  will  acquit  yourself  worthily  in 
the  performance  of  the  duties  which  it  im- 
plies," was  his  supercilious  address  to  Wayne. 

That  he  may  have  hoped  that  the  " honor" 
involved  would  also  mean  Wayne's  permanent 
removal  from  all  military  activity,  thus  reliev- 
ing the  army  for  all  time  of  ' '  so  noisy  and  bois- 
terous a  fellow"  [as  he  had  often  characterized 
him] ,  is  strongly  suggested  by  his  own  behavior. 
104 


BEAR  GUARD  FIGHTING 

Instead  of  remaining  with  the  balance  of  his 
division  to  support  Wayne 's  men,  he  almost  im- 
mediately withdrew,  greatly  to  the  disgust  of 
his  own  command,  and  to  the  exasperation  of 
Washington  himself,  who  promptly  ordered  him 
court-martialed.  In  his  attempted  defense,  this 
"caitiff,"  as  Wayne  would  probably  have  called 
him,  had  he  been  speaking  to  intimates,  sought 
to  accuse  Wayne  of  disobedience  to  orders,  and 
to  besmirch  the  characters  of  several  other 
prominent  officers.  The  result  was  that  he 
was  promptly  challenged  to  duels  by  Wayne, 
by  Colonel  John  Laurens,  and  by  the  brave  and 
soldierly  Steuben  himself.  But,  enough  of  Lee; 
his  record  is  part  of  history. 

Wayne  went  forward  with  joy  [to  his  death, 
as  Lee  probably  supposed],  and  promptly  en- 
gaged the  rear  of  the  enemy.  His  attack  was 
met  by  a  body  of  American  tones,  known  as 
Simcoe's  Rangers,  who  made  a  furious  charge 
upon  the  Pennsylvania  regiment  commanded 
by  Colonel  Richard  Butler,  a  devoted  friend  of 
Wayne 's,  and  his  constant  companion  in  arms 
until  the  end  of  the  war.  Butler's  men  fired  a 
105 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

tremendous  volley  of  musketry,  which  threw 
their  assailants  into  disorderly  retreat,  but  the 
advantage  could  not  be  followed  up,  because  of 
the  lack  of  cavalry.  At  this  juncture  the  main 
body  of  the  British  rear  began  to  advance,  a 
force  estimated  at  about  2,000  men,  which  was 
rapidly  increased  by  new  detachments  from  the 
front.  This  was  the  condition  in  which  Lee  was 
to  have  supported  Wayne,  in  order  to  prevent 
the  annihilation  of  his  command.  But  Lee 
failed  him;  he  was  already  withdrawing  his 
men  to  a  safe  distance.  Nothing  remained  for 
Wayne,  therefore,  but  to  follow  him  ignomin- 
iously.  At  the  old  Tennent  Church,  on  the  road 
to  Freehold,  Lee  met  Washington,  who,  as  re- 
ported, was  "angry  beyond  restraint."  That 
Lee's  career  was  not  terminated  on  the  spot  was 
due,  undoubtedly,  to  the  fact  that  Washington 
was  just  and  humane,  even  in  "anger  unre- 
strained." However,  it  is  reported  that  the 
usually  calm  Washington  used  stormy  lan- 
guage. 

As  events  proved,  Lee's  stupid  or  intended 
blunder  endangered  not  only  Wayne  and  his 
106 


REAR  GUARD  FIGHTING 

men,  but  also  General  Washington  himself,  and 
narrowly  escaped  exposing  the  entire  army  to 
an  assault  in  force  by  the  enemy  that  might  have 
led  to  a  great  disaster.  Washington  had  barely 
more  than  fifteen  minutes  to  meet  the  onslaught 
of  the  British  forces  which  had  faced  about 
and  were  beginning  to  move  in  his  direction. 
Even  in  that  brief  period,  however,  his  masterly 
qualities  as  a  general  were  demonstrated.  Hast- 
ily calling  to  Wayne,  who  had  just  come  up, 
he  ordered  him  to  take  two  regiments  and  check 
the  assault  of  the  enemy.  These  troops  were 
drawn  up  in  an  orchard  flanked  on  either  side 
by  hills,  upon  which  artillery  was  quickly 
mounted,  to  enfilade  the  advancing  British. 
Under  Wayne's  command  at  this  time  were 
three  regiments  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line,  one 
from  Maryland  and  another  from  Virginia. 
These  sufficed  to  hold  the  position  until  the  main 
body  of  the  army,  smnTnmip.fi  from  the  rear  by 
Washington,  had  arrived.  They  met  the  rushes 
of  the  English  grenadiers,  the  best  regiments 
in  the  service,  first  from  the  right  of  Wayne's 
position,  then  from  the  left,  but  were  repulsed 
107 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

on  both  attempts  by  the  withering  volleys  of 
musketry  and  the  constant  fire  of  the  field  guns. 
Then  came  the  most  dramatic  event  of  the 
terrible  day.  The  "crack"  regiments  of  the 
Guards  were  brought  up,  a  corps  renowned  for 
bravery,  dash  and  perfect  discipline,  and  or- 
dered to  charge  the  American  position.  Their 
line  was  drawn  up  within  a  short  distance  of 
Wayne's  front,  and  their  Colonel,  Henry  Mono- 
ton,  a  brother  of  Lord  Galway,  and  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  and  brilliant  of  the  young 
aristocrats  sent  out  to  crush  the  "vile  rebels" 
of  America,  as  the  English  contemptuously 
termed  those  whom  we  call  "patriots,"  deliv- 
ered a  stirring  and  eloquent  address,  appealing 
to  their  soldierly  pride,  their  esprit  de  corps, 
their  loyalty  to  the  King,  and  other  high  and 
noble  sentiments.  He  then  commanded  them 
to  advance  and  carry  the  position  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet,  and  he  himself,  with  courage 
worthy  honor  and  renown,  led  them  against  the 
ragged  men  who  had  suffered  the  torments 
of  hunger,  cold  and  exposure,  while  he  was 
safely  housed  in  the  hospitable  city  of  Phila- 
108 


EEAE  GUAED  FIGHTING 

delphia.  By  all  calculations  of  human  prob- 
ability, these  splendid  soldiers  should  have 
driven  the  " embattled  farmers"  in  confusion 
before  them,  and  discouraged  the  advance  of 
reinforcements  from  the  American  rear.  They 
advanced  at  double  quick,  a  formidable  and  ter- 
rifying array,  confident  of  easy  victory,  and 
keyed  to  the  uttermost  in  the  performance  of 
their  duty.  Wayne's  men,  who  had  heard  al- 
most every  word  of  the  Colonel's  stirring  speech 
and  at  least  had  seen  his  gestures,  stood  their 
ground,  waiting  until  their  would-be  assailants 
were  nearly  upon  them,  and  then  opened  their 
fire  with  murderous  effect.  The  gallant  British 
Colonel  had  made  his  last  appeal  on  earth :  he 
fell  riddled  with  bullets,  his  face  to  the  foe. 
Scores  of  his  veterans  fell  around  him,  and  still 
the  Americans  kept  up  their  fire,  dropping  six 
men  out  of  every  ten  at  the  murderously  short 
range,  and  throwing  the  survivors  into  a  con- 
fused rout.  Some  of  the  more  intrepid,  with 
touching  bravery,  tried  vainly  to  advance  far 
enough  to  rescue  their  commander's  crumpled 
body,  but  even  they  could  not  weather  the  awful 
109 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

hail  of  the  American  musketry,  and,  at  last,  they 
were  all  gone,  save  only  the  dead  and  the  des- 
perately wounded,  who  could  not  move. 

While  Wayne's  men  were  holding  back  the 
determined  assaults  of  the  British,  Washington 
had  had  time  to  reform  his  army,  and  was  ad- 
vancing all  along  the  line.  A  fierce  cannonade 
was  kept  up  on  both  sides,  and  many  assaults 
were  made  upon  the  American  positions,  but  the 
final  result  was  that  the  British  turned  and  fled 
at  all  points,  leaving  nearly  1,500  dead  and 
wounded  on  the  field. 

Wayne's  stand  at  Monmouth  is  one  of  the 
heroic  events  of  history.  It  has  been  compared 
to  the  stand  of  the  Greeks  at  Thermopylae,  and 
is  scarcely  less  conspicuous.  In  both  cases  a 
mere  handful  of  brave  and  determined  patriots 
withstood  the  seasoned  warriors  of  a  powerful 
army,  their  superiors  in  nearly  every  particular 
except  in  courage  and  steadfastness.  In  both 
cases,  also,  they  repulsed  their  assailants  with 
heavy  losses,  and  with  every  circumstance  of 
humiliation.  Seldom  has  a  warlike  achievement 
been  more  enthusiastically  acclaimed  by  all 
110 


REAE  GUARD  FIGHTING 

parties.  Wayne  became  an  idol  with  the  peo- 
ple as  he  had  always  been  among  his  troops. 
Only  one  voice  among  them  all  was  raised  in 
criticism  of  his  performance,  and  that  was  the 
voice  of  General  Charles  Lee,  who  attempted 
to  clear  himself  of  the  serious  charge  of  dis- 
obeying orders  by  arguing  the  "temerity  and 
folly,  and  contempt  of  orders  of  General  Wain" 
[for  so  he  spelled  the  name  in  his  letter  to  Rob- 
ert Morris],  who,  as  he  alleged,  had  audaciously 
provoked  a  battle  with  "the  whole  flower  of  the 
British  army  .  .  .  amounting  in  all  to  7,000 
men."  According  to  popular  understanding  of 
his  orders,  Wayne  and  Lee  had  been  expressly 
commanded  to  do  something  closely  resembling 
this  very  thing.  Nor  was  Wayne  guilty  of  any 
breach  of  discipline,  as  we  must  insist,  even 
though,  in  Lee's  words,  his  "folly"  was  mani- 
fested "in  the  most  extensive  plain  in  America, 
separated  from  our  main  body  the  distance  of 
eight  miles." 

What  Wayne  began,  rashly  or  not,  on  the 
plains  of  Monmouth,   he  and  his  men  were 
amply  prepared  to  complete,  and  they  did  corn- 
Ill 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

plete  it.    As  he  wrote  to  Richard  Peters  some 
two  weeks  after  the  engagement : 

' '  The  victory  of  that  day  turns  out  to  be  much 
more  considerable  than  at  first  expected.  .  .  . 
By  the  most  moderate  computation  their  killed 
and  wounded  must  be  full  fifteen  hundred  men 
of  the  flower  of  their  army.  Among  them  are 
numbers  of  the  richest  blood  of  England.  Tell 
the  Philadelphia  ladies  that  the  heavenly,  sweet, 
pretty  Bed  Coats,  the  accomplished  gentlemen 
of  the  guards  and  grenadiers  have  humbled 
themselves  on  the  plains  of  Monmouth.  The 
Knights  of  the  Blended  Rose  and  Burning 
Mount  have  resigned  their  laurels  to  rebel  offi- 
cers, who  will  lay  them  at  the  feet  of  those  vir- 
tuous daughters  of  America  who  cheerfully  gave 
up  ease  and  affluence  in  a  city  for  liberty  and 
peace  of  mind  in  a  cottage." 

Even  in  the  midst  of  his  triumph,  Wayne  was 
still  the  humorist  and  the  solicitous  command- 
er. To  this  spirited  epistle  he  adds  the  follow- 
ing postscript:  "We  have  not  received  the 
least  article  of  clothing  since  you  saw  us  at 
Mount  Joy,  and  are  now — naked." 
112 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  CLIMAX— STONY  POINT 

WHILE  the  Americans  had  decidedly  the 
best  of  the  day  at  Momnouth,  and  while 
the  moral  effect  of  the  battle  was  excellent,  the 
results  were  otherwise  small.  No  booty  was 
captured  from  the  vast  British  baggage  train, 
and  the  army  was  not  turned  back  from  its 
advance  on  New  York.  All  that  the  American 
army  could  do  after  its  victory  was  to  hang 
on  the  rear  of  the  enemy,  and,  after  he  had 
gained  his  haven  in  New  York,  to  so  dispose  the 
lines  that  any  attempt  to  advance  on  the  coun- 
try to  the  north,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hud- 
son, could  be  effectually  checked.  In  the  midst 
of  this  irksome  idleness,  during  the  succeeding 
summer  and  autumn  months,  Wayne  again  re- 
newed his  attempt  to  persuade  Congress  and  the 
authorities  of  Pennsylvania  to  send  the  needed 
supplies  to  the  soldiers.  The  results  were  as  un- 
113 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

satisfactory  as  formerly,  however — a  plethora 
of  large  promises  and  a  vacuum  of  practical 
performance.  Finally,  in  March,  1779,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  effecting  the  passage  of  a  law  by 
Congress  giving  officers  half  pay  for  life;  ex- 
empting from  taxation  all  land  held  by  soldiers 
during  their  lifetime,  and,  wonderful  to  re- 
late, providing  that  they  should  receive  a  suit- 
able uniform  while  in  the  service. 

Wayne,  however,  was  too  zealous  in  the  serv- 
ice, too  bold  in  his  demands,  too  entirely  de- 
voted to  the  welfare  of  the  men  under  him. 
Such  a  man  as  he  could  be  requited  only  with 
the  highest  honors,  or  merely  passed  over  with 
mere  mention.  The  latter  was  the  fate  of 
Wayne,  the  indefatigable  commander,  the  brave 
soldier  and  the  real  victor  of  Monmouth.  As  a 
part  of  the  "new  arrangement"  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Line  in  February,  1779,  he  was  quietly, 
even  contemptuously,  superseded  in  his  com- 
mand by  General  Arthur  St.  Glair,  who  was 
best  known  to  his  contemporaries  as  the  man 
who  had — needlessly,  as  it  was  alleged — evacu- 
ated Fort  Ticonderoga,  and  to  posterity  as  the 
114 


THE  CLIMAX— STONY  POINT 

"most  unfortunate  officer  in  the  Revolution." 
This  was,  of  course,  an  occasion  of  the  greatest 
chagrin  to  Wayne,  who  was  so  angered  and  dis- 
appointed that  he  actually  contemplated  for  a 
time  resignation  from  the  army  and  return  to 
civil  life.  His  patriotism  and  better  judgment, 
however,  finally  persuaded  him  to  ask  only  for 
a  leave  of  absence  until  his  services  should  be 
required  to  command  a  new  corps  of  the  army. 
During  his  period  of  retirement  he  busied  him- 
self in  pleading  the  cause  of  the  army  with  the 
government,  and  in  securing  such  benevolent 
legislation  as  has  been  mentioned  in  the  recog- 
nition and  rewards  of  both  rank  and  file. 

On  Wayne's  retirement  from  the  army  on 
leave  of  absence,  General  Washington  had 
promised  to  secure  his  appointment  as  com- 
mander of  a  Light  Infantry  Corps,  then  in  con- 
templation. This  corps  might  seem  to  have 
been  organized  expressly  for  Wayne,  and  its 
officers  and  men  picked  expressly  because  quali- 
fied to  serve  under  him  in  his  daring  military 
movements.  On  the  announcement,  in  May, 
1779,  that  he  was  to  command  this  corps,  a  large 
115 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

proportion  of  the  field  officers  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Line  earnestly  solicited  permission  to  be 
transferred  to  it.  So  numerous  were  petitions 
of  this  nature  that  Wayne  wrote  to  Washington, 
"I  had  better  be  absent  while  the  corps  is  being 
organized,  lest  it  be  supposed,  however  er- 
roneously, that  partiality  of  mine  for  certain 
officers  had  tended  to  bring  them  into  the 
corps." 

Wayne  assumed  command  of  this  newly 
formed  body  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1779, 
scarcely  three  weeks  before  the  momentous  ex- 
ploit in  the  capture  of  the  fort  at  Stony  Point, 
with  which  his  name  will  be  forever  associated. 
In  this  corps  were  one  and  one-half  battalions 
of  Pennsylvania  troops,  with  two  regiments 
from  Connecticut  and  one  from  Virginia.  In 
the  words  of  Colonel  Francis  Johnston,  in  a  let- 
ter to  Wayne,  the  command  was  "preferable  to 
that  of  any  in  the  army.  ' '  Excellent  as  the  per- 
sonnel was  declared  to  be,  and,  indeed,  as  it 
showed  itself  to  be,  it  could  be  no  more  than 
worthy  of  its  gallant  commander.  He  had  made 
himself  a  new  Leonidas  in  the  orchard  at  Mon- 
116 


THE  CLIMAX— STONY  POINT 

mouth,  and  was  destined  to  make  even  greater 
history  in  the  famous  surprise  and  capture  of 
Stony  Point. 

The  fortified  post  of  Stony  Point  was  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Hudson  River  to  the  south  of 
West  Point,  and  directly  opposite  to  Ver- 
planck's  Point,  on  which  was  another  fortifica- 
tion. The  position  was  upon  a  rocky  promon- 
tory 150  feet  in  height,  surrounded  on  all  sides 
by  water,  when  the  tide  was  high,  and  access 
from  land  was  possible  only  through  a  stretch 
of  mud  flats,  when  the  tide  was  out.  The 
British  had  gained  possession  of  it  early  in 
June,  and  had  greatly  strengthened  its  defenses, 
as  a  preliminary  to  a  determined  onslaught 
upon  West  Point.  Indeed,  the  possession  of 
West  Point,  then  regarded  as  the  most  im- 
portant fortress  in  America,  was  so  strongly 
desired  by  the  British  that  Howe  and  Burgoyne 
had  attempted  to  make  a  junction,  with  the  view 
of  investing  it,  in  1777,  and,  now,  the  occupation 
of  Stony  Point  and  Verplanck's  had  been  ac- 
complished as  a  move  in  a  new  and  well-pro- 
jected campaign.  The  defeat  of  Burgoyne  at 
117 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

Saratoga  had  destroyed  the  British  hopes  in 
1777,  and  the  capture  of  the  position  by 
Wayne  again  thwarted  them.  They  made  but 
one  more  attempt,  when,  in  the  following  year, 
they  succeeded  in  corrupting  General  Benedict 
Arnold,  whose  proposed  surrender  was  pre- 
vented only  by  the  capture  and  subsequent  ex- 
ecution of  Major  John  Andre,  a  talented  man, 
capable  of  better  things  and  worthy  a  nobler 
end. 

It  is  decidedly  indicative  of  Washington's 
strong  confidence  in  Wayne's  soldierly  abilities 
that  he  waited  impatiently  for  the  latter 's  return 
to  the  army  that  he  might  entrust  him  with  the 
hazardous  undertaking  of  an  attempted  sur- 
prise on  Stony  Point.  Certain  it  is  that  Wayne 
had  not  been  many  days  installed  in  his  new 
command  before  he  was  at  work  upon  his  plans 
for  the  attack.  Both  Wayne  and  Washington 
carefully  examined  the  position,  and  took  into 
consideration  every  possible  plan  for  entering 
the  fort  with  the  smallest  loss  of  men.  A  gen- 
eral assault  that  day  would  have  been  out 
of  the  question,  since  the  position  was  amply 
118 


THE  CLIMAX— STONY  POINT 

fortified  against  the  fire  of  any  artillery  then 
in  use,  and  could  be  approached  near  enough 
for  an  attempt  at  assault  by  infantry  in  mass 
only  after  a  most  appalling  loss  of  life.  The 
plan  adopted,  therefore,  was  that  Wayne,  with 
a  picked  body  of  men,  should  attempt  a  sur- 
prise attack. 

So  we  come  to  the  night  of  July  15,  1779, 
when  the  surprise  attack  was  made,  and  the  cap- 
ture of  the  fort  accomplished.  Every  detail 
of  the  work  was  carefully  mapped  in  advance, 
nothing  had  been  forgotten  or  overlooked.  The 
troops,  drawn  up  into  separate  parties,  each 
with  its  own  particular  duty  to  perform,  were 
fully  informed.  There  were  three  columns  in 
all.  Two  were  advance  columns  consisting  of  150 
picked  men,  one  to  work  up  to  the  fort  on  the 
left  side  from  the  land,  the  other,  on  the  right 
side;  each  of  them  preceded  by  a  "forlorn 
hope"  of  twenty  tried  and  trusty  volunteers, 
destined  to  swift  death  or  lasting  renown. 
These  detachments  were  to  prepare  the  way  for 
their  more  numerous  supporters  by  clearing 
away  the  abatis,  dispatching  or  capturing  the 
119 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

pickets,  and  finding  the  paths  over  which  the 
remainder  could  move  in  approaching  the  for- 
midable works.  The  third  party  was  to  charge 
up  the  slope  in  the  center,  and,  as  the  others 
reached  given  indicated  points,  to  open  a  tre- 
mendous fusillade,  with  a  view  to  drawing  the 
fire  of  the  defenders,  and  thus  covering  the  ad- 
vance of  the  surprise  detachments  on  either 
hand.  The  left-hand  column  was  commanded 
by  Major  Jack  Stewart,  of  Maryland,  the  right- 
hand  by  Colonel  Louis  Fleury,  a  French  officer 
in  the  American  service,  who  was  supported  by 
the  column  under  command  of  Wayne  himself. 
The  center  was  under  Colonel  Murfrees,  of 
North  Carolina. 

The  attacking  corps  marched  from  their  camp 
near  New  Windsor  to  Stony  Point,  a  distance  of 
fourteen  miles,  after  dark,  arriving  in  time  to 
open  the  attack  at  11 :30  o  'clock.  The  way  was 
wholly  along  unkempt  country  roads,  upon 
which  the  men  were  often  obliged  to  march  in 
single  file.  Utter  silence  was  commanded  as 
the  prime  requisite,  and  the  men  were  forbid- 
den to  drop  out  of  the  ranks  on  any  pretext 
120 


THE  CLIMAX— STONY  POINT 

whatever.  Wayne  was  still  the  exacting  dis- 
ciplinarian, who  sternly  required  literal  obedi- 
ence to  the  military  law.  In  his  address  to  the 
men  of  the  Light  Infantry,  on  assuming  com- 
mand, he  had  said: 

''Should  there  be  any  soldier  so  lost  to  a  feel- 
ing of  honor  as  to  attempt  to  retreat  a  single 
foot,  or  skulk  in  the  face  of  danger,  the  officer 
next  to  him  is  immediately  to  put  him  to  death, 
that  he  may  no  longer  disgrace  the  name  of  a 
soldier,  or  the  corps,  or  the  State,  to  which  he 
belongs."  Nor  can  we  doubt  that  he  gave  pre- 
cisely similar  directions  to  these  same  men  on 
this,  the  most  momentous  evening  of  his 
career. 

All  the  precautions  were  well  timed  to  effect 
a  successful  issue.  The  British,  in  a  calm  sense 
of  perfect  security,  believing  that  the  fort  could 
be  assaulted  only  by  a  front  attack,  enfiladed 
by  their  cannon,  had  retired  for  the  night,  after 
posting  only  the  usual  number  of  guards.  No 
one  had  heard  or  seen  the  advancing  Americans, 
who  were  already  on  the  slopes  below  the  work 
even  before  the  pickets  had  detected  their  ad- 
121 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

vance  guards.  The  attacking  column  on  the 
right,  under  Colonel  Christian  Febiger,  and 
General  Wayne,  were  obliged  to  wade  through 
deep  water,  which  considerably  delayed  their 
progress.  Once  they  reached  the  abatis,  how- 
ever, the  path  was  quickly  cleared,  and  the  ad- 
vance was  rapid.  Suddenly,  from  Murfrees* 
men,  moving  up  the  slope  in  the  center,  a  noisy 
and  continuous  fusillade  burst  forth,  awakening 
the  garrison,  who  soon  began  answering  the 
fire  with  musketry  and  grape  shot.  The 
American  advance  on  the  left  suffered  severely, 
finding  the  removal  of  the  obstructions  more 
difficult  than  did  their  comrades  on  the  right, 
and  being  caught  in  the  midst  of  a  hail  of  bul- 
lets. Seventeen  out  of  the  twenty  men  in  their 
"forlorn  hope"  were  stretched  dead  or 
wounded  on  the  ground,  and  the  advance  column 
suffered  severely  also,  before  the  sally  port  of 
the  fort  was  finally  gained,  and  the  defenses 
were  at  their  mercy.  The  three  columns  arrived 
at  the  door  of  the  fort  almost  simultaneously, 
and  there  began  a  fierce  hand-to-hand  fight,  in 
which  there  was  no  firing — only  cold  steel  and 
122 


"  'Forward,  my  brave  fellows,  forward !' 


THE  CLIMAX— STONY  POINT 

the  steady  pressure  of  an  overwhelming  mass 
of  men. 

Just  before  entering  on  the  fight,  Wayne  had 
written  a  personal  letter  to  Sharp  Delany, 
whom  he  addressed  as  "my  best  and  dearest 
friend,"  bidding  him  an  affectionate  farewell, 
as  he  did  not  know  whether  he  should  breakfast 
11  within  the  enemy's  lines  in  triumph  or  in  the 
other  world."  Even  his  dauntless  spirit  was 
impressed  with  the  awfulness  of  the  situation 
and  the  desperate  character  of  the  attempt  upon 
which  he  was  about  to  enter.  But  in  nothing  did 
he  show  that  he  was  afraid  to  die.  About  half- 
way up  the  laborious  slope  a  musket  ball 
plowed  a  jagged  furrow  across  his  scalp,  so  nar- 
rowly avoiding  the  infliction  of  a  fatal  wound 
that  the  gallant  General  fell  stunned  and  help- 
less in  his  tracks.  Small  wonder  that  he  sup- 
posed his  end  was  come,  for  such  a  wound  is 
both  staggering  and  keen.  But  he  roused  him- 
self to  a  shout: 

"Forward,  my  brave  fellows,  forward!  Vic- 
tory is  already  in  your  hands ! ' '  Then,  to  those 
beside  hvm  he  added: 

123 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

"If  I  am  fatally  injured,  carry  me  within  the 
fort,  and  let  me  die  there  in  triumph. ' '  Having 
bound  up  his  hurt,  his  men  lifted  him  on  their 
shoulders  and  carried  him  forward  to  the  top 
of  the  rise.  The  rumor  spread  quickly  that 
General  Wayne  had  been  killed,  but  the  soldiers, 
far  from  falling  back  discouraged,  rushed  for- 
ward all  the  more  eagerly,  determined  to  extort 
an  even  heavier  penalty  in  their  revenge.  In 
such  a  moment  as  this  the  lust  of  blood  rushes 
in  upon  men ;  they  turn  blind,  deaf  and  senseless 
to  all  save  the  ecstasy  of  battle ! 

Only  a  few  minutes  more,  and  the  Ameri- 
cans were  within  the  works  driving  the  defend- 
ers before  them.  It  was  a  slaughter  grim  and 
merciless,  no  firing,  no  sabering,  but  the  con- 
tinuous stabbing  of  the  bayonets,  thrust  and 
thrust!  Sixty-three  of  the  British  fell  by  the 
bayonet  within  the  fort — precisely  the  number 
sacrificed  in  the  Paoli  "massacre,"  a  life  for  a 
life — before  the  driven  regulars  threw  down 
their  arms  and  cried  for  quarter.  Nor  were  the 
captors  relentless.  No  f oeman  begged  for  mercy 
who  was  not  spared!  And  they  could  afford 
124 


THE  CLIMAX— STONY  POINT 

to  be  lenient.  They  were  victors !  Among  the 
American  officers  Colonel  Fleury  was  first  upon 
the  walls.  It  was  he  who  lowered  the  British 
standard,  declaring  the  fort  captured.  In  his 
broken  English  he  shouted  in  the  hearing  of  all, 
above  the  noise  and  turmoil  of  the  fight,  "Ze 
fort  is  ours." 

The  advance  of  the  American  lines  began  at 
11:30,  and  at  2,  Wayne  dispatched  a  note  to 
General  Washington,  brief,  soldierly,  generous, 
with  no  reference  to  his  own  most  painful 
wound : 

"The  fort  and  garrison  with  Colonel  John- 
ston are  ours.  Our  officers  and  men  behaved 
like  men  who  are  determined  to  be  free." 

There  were  taken  with  Stony  Point  543  pris- 
oners of  war.  The  Americans  lost  fifteen  killed, 
and  forty-three  wounded.  Of  the  British  an 
even  sixty-three  were  killed,  and  many  more 
seriously  injured,  something  like  twice  that 
number. 

Immediately  on  capturing  the  fort  the  guns 
were  trained  on  the  works  on  Verplanck's  Point 
and  on  the  British  ships  in  the  river.  Before 
125 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

morning  the  river  and  its  shores  were  clear  of 
British  soldiers  and  sailors. 

The  reputation  of  General  Wayne's  victory  at 
Stony  Point  was  immense.  He  received  con- 
gratulations from  the  most  distinguished  per- 
sons in  military  and  government  circles,  among 
them  his  old  enemy  Charles  Lee,  who  wrote  with 
what  seemed  to  be  evident  sincerity: 

"I  do  most  sincerely  declare  that  your  action 
in  the  assault  of  Stony  Point  is  not  only  the 
most  brilliant,  in  my  opinion,  through  the  whole 
course  of  this  war  on  either  side,  but  that  it 
is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  I  am  acquainted  with 
in  history.  Upon  my  soul,  the  assault  of 
Schweidnitz  by  Marshal  Loudon  I  think  inferior 
to  it.  I  wish  you,  therefore,  joy  of  the  laurels 
you  have  so  deservedly  acquired,  and  that  you 
may  long  live  to  wear  them. ' ' 

The  American  Congress,  also,  a  body  so 
curiously  insensible  to  Wayne's  earnest,  persist- 
ent and  long-continued  appeals  for  clothing  and 
supplies  for  the  suffering  soldiers,  voted  him 
a  grand  gold  medal,  inscribed  in  excellent  Latin, 
after  the  manner  of  the  times,  "  Antonio  Wayne 
126 


THE  CLIMAX— STONY  POINT 

Duel  Exercitus"  ("To  Anthony  Wayne,  Leader 
of  the  Army"),  and  to  several  of  his  foremost 
officers,  silver  medals  to  the  same  effect.  Thus 
was  Anthony  Wayne  received  among  those 
whose  fame  is  imperishable. 


CHAPTEE  XI 

WAYNE  WINS  THE  DISAFFECTED 

DURING  the  months  following  the  success- 
ful assault  on  Stony  Point,  Wayne's  sol- 
dierly qualities  were  occupied,  not  in  fighting 
with  an  armed  enemy,  but  in  contending  end- 
lessly with  official  incompetence  and  negligence, 
in  the  vain  hope  of  having  his  command  prop- 
erly supplied  with  food  and  clothing.  It  seems 
to  have  been  his  evil  destiny  to  be  ever  embar- 
rassed by  these  ignoble  elements,  which,  more 
than  hardships,  discouraging  difficulties,  or  the 
opposition  of  a  formidable  enemy,  served  to 
impede  his  activities.  The  nearly  unbelievable 
futility  and  indifference  of  the  authorities  were 
the  only  agencies  that  ever  thwarted  his  daunt- 
less courage.  Repeatedly,  after  earnest,  per- 
sistent and  unselfish  efforts  in  behalf  of  his  men 
and  their  welfare,  he  was  obliged  to  give  it  up, 
utterly  baffled  and  discouraged.  Even  the  gal- 
128 


WAYNE  WINS  THE  DISAFFECTED 

lant  Light  Infantry  Corps,  whose  service  at 
Stony  Point  had  shed  a  halo  of  glory  on  the 
American  arms,  were  not  spared  the  lofty  dis- 
dain of  the  commissary  department.  Nor  did 
Wayne's  indignant  protest  avail  to  alter  the 
situation  in  any  particular.  Matters  pro- 
gressed in  regular  order  from  bad  to  worse, 
and  by  the  opening  of  November,  as  he  reported, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  of  his  command  were 
shoeless.  Nor  did  this  sad  condition  at  all  ex- 
cite official  compassion.  By  the  end  of  Decem- 
ber few,  if  any,  of  the  men  had  been  pro- 
vided for,  as  is  shown  in  Wayne's  note  to  Wash- 
ington on  the  order  of  Congress  that  the  Vir- 
ginia regiment  be  detached  from  the  Light  In- 
fantry Corps  and  proceed  to  Philadelphia.  His 
reply  was  brief  and  to  the  point: 

"Colonel  Febiger  will  march  tomorrow  at 
8  A.  M.,  but  for  want  of  shoes  he  must  carry  a 
great  many  of  his  people  in  wagons." 

As  if  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  authorities 

that  the  only  way  to  silence  the  protests  of  so 

persistent  a  protester  as  Wayne  was  to  be 

rid  of  him,  the  next  move  was  the  disbandment 

129 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

of  the  corps  itself.  Accordingly,  within  fonr 
weeks  from  the  departure  of  Febiger's  men, 
Wayne  again  found  himself  without  a  command. 
On  February  4,  1780,  he  wrote  to  Washington 
asking  that  he  might  be  employed  in  any  capa- 
city he  might  think  proper,  and  then  returned 
to  his  home  in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania, 
again  compelled  to  wait  patiently  and  submis- 
sively for  another  opportunity  to  serve  his 
country  with  his  splendid  talents.  For  nearly 
fourteen  weeks  he  led  the  life  of  a  private  citi- 
zen, presumably  caring  for  his  farm  and  other 
properties,  while  waiting  eagerly  for  the  sum- 
mons to  return  to  the  service  of  his  country. 
It  came  at  last,  a  brief  letter  from  General 
Washington,  containing  the  strong  tribute :  *  *  I 
shall  be  very  happy  to  see  you  at  camp  again, 
and  hope  you  will,  without  hesitation,  resume 
your  command  in  the  Pennsylvania  Line. ' ' 

Probably  Wayne  was  as  happy  to  be  back  in 
camp  as  was  Washington  to  have  him  there,  but 
little  of  importance  occurred  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1780  that  could  excite  the  ardor  of 
even  the  keenest  soldier.  Washington's  army 
130 


WAYNE  WINS  THE  DISAFFECTED 

confined  itself  principally  to  watching  the  move- 
ments of  the  British  forces  at  New  York,  and 
to  guarding  the  country  between  that  city  and 
West  Point  on  the  north.  A  few  skirmishes 
occurred,  an  unsuccessful  attack  on  a  Britsh 
block  house — which  was  celebrated  in  a  series 
of  highly  satirical  stanzas  from  the  pen  of  the 
unfortunate  Major  Andre — but  for  the  most 
part  mere  marchings  and  counter-marchings, 
patrolling  the  country,  and  awaiting  a  decisive 
move  by  the  enemy.  Thus,  during  the  summer 
and  early  autumn,  did  the  time  pass  tediously 
along.  Then  came  a  really  momentous  event, 
the  capture  of  the  same  witty  and  unfortunate 
Major  Andre,  and  the  revelation  of  Arnold's 
tremendous  treasonous  plot,  which  through 
Washington's  quick  action  was  effectively 
thwarted.  For  a  time,  during  the  exciting  weeks 
following  this  event,  there  was  plenty  to  do  in 
the  way  of  guarding  positions  and  preparing 
to  head  off  expected  movements  of  the  enemy, 
but  no  fighting.  In  fact,  if  we  may  judge  by  the 
records  of  the  time,  the  whole  army  came  near 
to  perishing  of  simple  ennui. 
131 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

In  the  midst  of  the  tiresome  inaction  of  the 
year  Wayne  experienced  all  over  again  the  con- 
stant annoyances  due  to  the  maladministration 
at  the  hands  of  the  pompous  incompetents  who 
held  control  of  the  affairs  of  his  state.  There 
was  no  improvement  worth  mentioning  in  the 
food  problem,  nor  in  the  clothing  problem,  per- 
ennially before  the  eyes  of  the  General.  But, 
added  to  this,  there  was  a  growing  spirit  of  dis- 
content in  the  Pennsylvania  Line.  Officers  com- 
plained that  they  had  not  received  the  recog- 
nition and  promotions  due  to  their  services,  nor 
yet  the  pay  sufficient  to  the  demands  of  their 
positions.  The  men  protested  that  they  were 
sparingly  fed,  wretchedly  clothed — or  unclothed 
— paid  only  in  currency  that  was  either  so  de- 
preciated as  to  represent  merely  a  fraction  of 
its  face  value,  or  to  be  utterly  worthless  in 
purchasing  necessities,  and  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  continue  serving  long  after  the  expira- 
tion of  their  times  of  enlistment.  Discontent 
seems  to  have  been  still  further  aggravated  by 
the  unwise  policy  of  Congress  in  appointing  to 
responsible  commands  men  who  had  seen  little 
132 


WAYNE  WINS  THE  DISAFFECTED 

or  no  service  in  the  war,  over  the  heads  of  sea- 
soned veterans  who  had  worked  and  suffered 
unremittingly  in  the  cause  of  freedom.  A 
notable  occasion  for  protest  was  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  certain  William  Macpherson,  a  native 
of  Philadelphia,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Eevolution  an  adjutant  in  the  British  service, 
to  the  rank  of  major  by  brevet.  This  was  in 
1779,  but  in  the  following  year  the  folly  was 
consummated  by  the  detailing  of  this  officer  to 
the  Pennsylvania  Line  with  his  brevet  rank. 
The  result  was  that  the  officers  of  the  Line,  with 
an  almost  complete  unanimity,  threatened  to 
resign  from  the  service,  and  letters  of  protest 
were  addressed  by  Wayne  and  Irvine  to  Gen- 
eral Washington.  Macpherson  himself  seems 
to  have  been  as  unwise  and  precipitate  as  his 
sponsors,  for  he  took  part  in  the  controversy  by 
addressing  a  semi-contemptuous  letter  to 
Wayne,  bidding  him,  in  effect,  to  "keep  his 
hands  off. ' '  The  matter  was  finally  settled  only 
by  discontinuing  the  formation  of  the  new  Light 
Infantry  Corps,  to  which  Macpherson  had  been 
appointed. 

133 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

All  such  occasions  of  discontent  led  finally  to 
the  famous  and  dramatic  incident  known  as  the 
"Revolt  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line.*'  Wayne 
himself,  fully  aware  of  the  justness  of  the  pro- 
tests on  nearly  every  point,  was  keenly  appre- 
hensive of  the  consequences  that  must  follow 
persistent  inaction,  when,  on  the  first  of  Jan- 
uary, 1781,  the  enlistments  of  most  of  his  men 
were  due  to  expire.  According  to  his  habit, 
he  wrote  letters  of  warning,  protest  and  advice 
to  President  Reed  of  Pennsylvania,  and  others 
who  should  have  helped  him  in  the  extremity, 
had  they  so  chosen.  To  Reed  he  writes :  '  *  Our 
soldiers  are  not  devoid  of  reasoning  faculty,  nor 
callous  to  the  first  feelings  of  nature.  They 
have  now  served  their  country  for  nearly  five 
years  with  fidelity,  poorly  clothed,  badly  fed, 
and  worse  paid.  I  have  not  seen  a  paper  dollar 
in  the  way  of  pay  for  more  than  twelve  months. ' ? 

"When,  even  at  this  crisis,  the  inertia  of  the 
Government  could  not  be  neutralized,  private 
philanthropy  took  up  the  cause  of  the  soldiers. 
Several  prominent  ladies  of  Philadelphia,  under 
the  leadership  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Bache,  wife  of 
134 


WAYNE  WINS  THE  DISAFFECTED 

Eichard  Bache,  then  postmaster-general,  and 
the  only  daughter  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  pur- 
chased cloth  and  superintended  the  manufacture 
of  the  sorely  needed  and  much-asked-for  cloth- 
ing. Mrs.  Bache  collected  large  sums  for  this 
cause  by  personal  solicitation  among  her 
wealthy  friends,  and  at  one  time  had  as  many 
as  2,200  women  constantly  at  work  sewing  on 
the  clothing  thus  paid  for.  But,  as  is  too  often 
the  case  with  philanthropic  efforts,  these  serv- 
ices were  rendered  too  late  to  prevent  the  final 
grand  explosion  of  the  fury  that  had  been 
smoldering  for  months  in  the  breasts  of  the 
suffering  soldiers. 

The  storm  broke  on  the  evening  of  January 
1, 1781,  when  the  men  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line, 
almost  without  exception,  rushed  from  their 
squalid  quarters,  formed  under  arms  on  the 
parade  ground,  disarmed,  although  without  an- 
imosity, disregarded  all  officers  who  attempted 
to  interfere  with  their  lawless  movements,  and 
proceeded  to  possess  themselves  of  ammuni- 
tion, food  supplies,  horses,  and  other  desirable 
equipments,  including  two  pieces  of  artillery. 
135 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

Wayne,  accustomed  to  quelling  mutinies,  and 
given  to  measures  of  severe  discipline,  even 
when  in  full  sympathy  with  his  men,  rushed  for- 
ward fearlessly,  pistol  in  hand,  and  ordered  an 
immediate  dispersal.  The  only  answer  to  his 
command  was  the  presentation  of  a  dozen 
bayonets  at  his  breast  and  the  stern  words  of 
the  mutineers'  spokesman: 

"We  love  you,  we  respect  you,  but  you  are 
a  dead  man  if  you  fire!  Do  not  mistake  us: 
we  are  not  going  to  the  enemy ;  on  the  contrary, 
were  they  now  to  come  out,  you  would  see  us 
fight  under  your  orders  with  as  much  resolution 
and  alacrity  as  ever."  The  mutineers  then 
broke  camp,  and  started  on  their  march  to 
Philadelphia,  carrying  along  with  them,  al- 
though without  compulsion,  General  Wayne 
himself,  and  Colonels  Richard  Butler  and  Wal- 
ter Stewart.  The  southward  march  was  at- 
tended by  no  acts  of  lawlessness  or  depredation, 
and  was  made,  as  one  contemporary  has  said, 
"with  an  astonishing  regularity  and  disci- 
pline." 

To  the  inhabitants  of  Philadelphia,  especially 
136 


WAYNE  WINS  THE  DISAFFECTED 

to  the  members  of  Congress,  awake  at  last  to 
the  consequences  of  their  persistent  neglect  of 
the  faithful  soldiers  fighting  for  freedom,  the 
day  of  reckoning  seemed  at  hand.  Even  Wash- 
ington, who  was  prevented  solely  by  the  neces- 
sities of  his  position  from  taking  severe  meas- 
ures to  quell  the  insurgents,  seems  to  have  con- 
sidered the  affair  as  of  the  utmost  significance. 
He  wrote,  some  weeks  later: 

"The  weakness  of  this  garrison,  and  still 
more  its  embarrassment  and  distress  from  want 
of  provisions,  made  it  impossible  to  prosecute 
such  measures  with  the  Pennsylvanians  as  the 
nature  of  the  case  demanded,  and  while  we  were 
making  arrangements,  as  far  as  practicable,  to 
supply  these  defects,  an  accommodation  took 
place  which  will  not  only  subvert  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Line,  but  have  a  very  pernicious  influence 
upon  the  whole  army." 

The  British  authorities  were,  of  course,  elated 
at  the  " revolt,"  and  confidently  expected  that 
the  mutineers  would  quickly  come  over  to  their 
lines.  Indeed,  messengers  were  sent  to  meet 
them  from  Sir  Henry  Clinton's  camp  near 
137 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey,  offering  them  most 
favorable  terms  to  join  the  British  army.  The 
messengers  were  roughly  handled,  and  confined 
as  spies,  while  their  letters  were  brought  to 
Wayne  himself,  with  full  assurance  that,  in  the 
event  of  an  attack,  they  would  submit  to  his 
command,  in  order  to  sufficiently  punish  those 
who  had  suspected  them  capable  of  "becoming 
Arnolds,"  as  their  saying  was. 

Wayne  must  have  been  perfectly  well  aware 
that  the  aims  of  his  disaffected  troops  included 
no  designs  for  treasons  or  treacherous  violence. 
But  the  members  of  Congress  were  painfully 
apprehensive  lest  they  should  occupy  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  and  compel  the  passage  of  laws 
for  the  relief  of  their  distress;  they  could  not 
disabuse  their  minds  of  the  conviction  that  the 
affair  would  result  in  bloodshed.  Consequently, 
a  committee,  including  President  Joseph  Reed 
himself,  was  delegated  to  meet  the  soldiers  at 
some  point  distant  from  the  city,  and  to  treat 
with  them  upon  their  demands.  On  the  way 
most  of  the  committee  lost  courage  to  face  these 
men  whom,  in  their  swollen  pride,  they  had  con- 
138 


WAYNE  WINS  THE  DISAFFECTED 

temptuously  neglected  for  so  long  a  period, 
and  Reed,  who  seems  to  have  had  the  virtue  of 
courage  to  offset  any  defects  in  his  character, 
proceeded  alone  to  meet  the  men  in  their  camp 
near  Princeton.  Here  conferences  were  held, 
[the  demands  of  the  soldiers  seriously  considered, 
and  the  whole  affair  concluded  by  a  tardy  jus- 
tice, on  the  one  hand,  and  a  loyal  submission  to 
authority,  on  the  other. 
In  their  final  form,  the  agreements  were : 

1.  No  more  enforced  service  after  the  expiry 
of  terms  of  enlistment;  also  an  immediate  dis- 
charge for  all  who  enlisted  under  compulsion. 

2.  The  appointment  of  a  board  to  pass  on 
the  question  whether  an  enlistment  was  for 
three  years  only,  or  for  the  period  of  the  war. 

3.  The  acceptance  of  the  $100  bounty  from 
Congress  on  reenlistment  not  to  constitute  evi- 
dence of  enlistment  for  the  whole  war. 

4.  Auditors  to  be  appointed  at  once  to  settle 
the  matter  of  soldiers'  pay. 

5.  Clothing  for  all  men  found  entitled  to  a 
discharge. 

6.  General  amnesty  and  oblivion. 

139 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

The  result  of  the  examination  made  by  the 
Commission  is  well  expressed  in  a  letter  from 
Wayne  to  General  Washington,  as  follows: 

"The  Commissioners  of  Congress  have  gone 
through  the  Settlements  of  enlistments  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Line,  except  a  few  stragglers,  and 
have  ordered  about  1,250  men  to  be  discharged 
out  of  the  aggregate  of  the  infantry  (2,400 
men),  and  67  of  the  artillery,  so  that  we  may 
count  upon  nearly  1,150  remaining." 

Later  he  wrote: 

"We  shall  retain  more  than  two-thirds  of 
the  troops.  The  soldiers  are  as  impatient  of 
liberty  as  they  were  of  service." 

Beyond  doubt,  Wayne's  presence  with  the 
mutineers  restrained  them  from  such  acts  of 
violence  as  the  less  worthy  among  them  might 
have  counseled.  The  love  and  respect  of  his 
soldiers  for  him  personally — although  some 
complained  bitterly  that  "they  had  experienced 
more  restraint  and  strict  duty  than  usual  in 
winter" — undoubtedly  led  them  to  submit  will- 
ingly, after  their  indubitable  wrongs  had  been 
righted.  Washington  was  not  tardy  in  recog- 
140 


WAYNE  WINS  THE  DISAFFECTED 

nizing  these  facts.    Indeed,  he  wrote  in  a  letter 
to  Wayne,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  affair : 

"I  am  satisfied  that  everything  was  done  on 
your  part  to  produce  the  least  possible  evil  from 
the  unfortunate  disturbance  in  your  line,  and 
that  your  influence  has  had  a  great  share  in  pre- 
venting worse  extremities.  I  felt  for  your  situa- 
tion. Your  anxieties  and  fatigues  of  mind 
amidst  such  a  scene  I  can  easily  conceive.  I 
thank  you  sincerly  for  your  exertions." 


CHAPTER  XII 
LEADING  UP  TO  YORKTOWN 

IMMEDIATELY  after  the  settlement  of  the 
mutiny  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line,  the  work 
of  reorganization  was  begun.  Of  the  1,250  men 
discharged  by  the  Commission  of  Congress, 
very  many  reenlisted  at  once,  so  that,  as  Wayne 
stated  confidently,  "more  than  two-thirds  of 
the  troops"  were  immediately  enrolled.  This 
matter  satisfactorily  settled,  Wayne  wrote  to 
General  Washington  asking  that  he  be  assigned 
to  active  field  duty,  rather  than  to  recruiting. 
Washington's  reply  was  that  active  service  was 
then  "not  possible,"  although  Wayne  was  ex- 
cused from  the  arduous  duties  of  recruiting. 

Wayne's  return  to  active  service  in  the  field 
was  not  long  delayed.  On  February  26,  1781, 
he  was  ordered  to  take  a  detachment  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Line,  and  reenforce  General 
Greene,  then  operating  in  South  Carolina.  His 
142 


LEADING  UP  TO  YOEKTOWN 

corps,  consisting  of  six  regiments,  about  eight 
hundred  men,  had  their  rendezvous  at  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  were  expected  to  march  in 
the  near  future.  From  various  causes,  includ- 
ing not  only  inclemency  of  the  weather,  but  also 
the  usual  preposterous  delays  about  arming 
and  equipping  the  soldiers,  the  detachment  did 
not  march  until  after  the  middle  of  May.  Even 
with  the  lesson  of  the  recent  mutiny  fresh  in 
their  memories,  the  authorities  still  insisted  in 
paying  off  the  men  in  the  depreciated,  almost 
worthless  currency,  against  which  they  had 
formerly  protested  so  strongly.  This  excited 
the  fury  of  certain  malcontents,  who  cried  out 
against  it  on  parade,  with  the  result  that,  in 
order  to  nip  the  tendency  to  revolt  in  the  bud, 
they  were  immediately  tried,  sentenced  and  shot 
before  the  assembled  troops. 

Wayne's  corps  did  not  march  from  York  un- 
til May  20.  By  that  date  Cornwallis  had  al- 
ready withdrawn  his  army  from  South  Caro- 
lina, and  was  proceeding  northward,  to  make 
a  junction  with  the  forces  under  General  Phil- 
lips on  the  James  River  in  Virginia,  Wayne 
143 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

was  now  ordered  to  reenforce  General  Lafay- 
ette, then  leading  the  sole  American  troops  in 
Virginia,  and  to  do  his  best  in  heading  off  the 
raiding  parties  constantly  sent  out  by  the  enemy 
to  prey  upon  the  surrounding  country.  While 
engaged  upon  this  duty  Wayne  and  Lafayette 
were  further  ordered  by  General  Washington 
to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  retreat  of  Cornwal- 
lis  into  North  Carolina.  With  this  double  pur- 
pose in  view,  the  two  generals  constantly  hung 
upon  the  rear  of  the  British,  annoying  them  as 
much  as  possible,  while  avoiding  a  general  en- 
gagement, for  which  they  were  not  in  sufficient 
numbers  nor  sufficiently  well  equipped. 

The  persistent  plan  of  rear-guard  fighting 
was  carefully  adhered  to  at  all  times,  the  only 
exception,  and  the  nearest  approach  to  a  gen- 
eral engagement,  being  at  Green  Spring,  where 
an  attack  was  attempted  under  an  entire  mis- 
apprehension of  the  enemy 's  strength.  On  July 
6  Lafayette  learned  from  his  spies  that  the 
British  were  crossing  the  river,  in  order  to 
send  columns  down  on  both  banks  on  the  way 
to  Portsmouth.  According  to  the  understand- 
144 


LEADING  UP  TO  YORKTOWN 

ing  given  him,  Lafayette  supposed  that  by  far 
the  larger  portion  of  the  enemy 's  forces  had 
crossed  to  the  opposite  shore,  leaving  only  a 
small  part  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. Wayne  was  sent  at  once  to  reconnoiter 
the  position,  with  a  force  of  abont  800  men,  but, 
on  coming  up  with  the  enemy,  he  found  that  by 
far  the  greater  force  was  still  opposed  to  him, 
and  that  he  was  several  times  outnumbered. 
In  approaching  the  enemy  the  small  American 
force  had  been  obliged  to  cross  a  marsh,  which 
was  passable  only  by  a  narrow  causeway.  Re- 
treat  was,  therefore,  impossible,  and  nothing 
remained  but  to  make  such  showing  as  they 
were  able  until  the  arrival  of  reinforcements 
from  the  camp  five  miles  to  the  rear. 

The  action  began,  and  continued  for  some 
hours,  by  a  constant  and  "galling**  fire  of 
Wayne's  riflemen.  Finally,  at  five  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  the  British  lines  began  to  advance. 
This  was  the  signal  for  a  spirited  attack  by 
Major  Gal  van,  a  French  officer  in  the  American 
service,  who  maintained  a  gallant  fight,  until 
driven  back  by  the  British  columns.  With  the 
145 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

arrival  of  a  small  detachment  of  infantry,  under 
Major  Willis,  at  this  juncture,  a  heavy  fire  was 
resumed  by  the  Americans,  and  was  continued, 
until  it  was  evident  the  British  were  preparing 
to  surround  them.  Wayne,  perceiving  that  he 
was  in  imminent  danger  of  annihilation  or  cap- 
ture, determined  on  one  of  the  bold  moves  so 
characteristic  of  his  military  genius.  Having 
by  this  time  been  strongly  reenf  orced,  he  deter- 
mined to  save  himself  by  making  a  sharp  and 
short  attack  on  the  advancing  columns,  which 
should  throw  them  into  disorder,  thus  giving 
him  the  opportunity  to  withdraw  from  the  trap 
and  thus  prepare  for  any  further  movements. 
Accordingly,  within  seventy  yards  of  the  British 
lines,  he  opened  a  furious  attack,  with  both  can- 
non and  musketry,  which  lasted  about  .fifteen 
minutes,  and  served  to  seriously  disconcert  his 
opponents.  In  the  temporary  advantage  thus 
gained,  he  withdrew  his  troops  across  the 
marsh,  and  reformed  on  the  other  side  of  a  piece 
of  woods  commanding  the  only  path  upon  which 
the  British  could  follow  him.  Although  less 
spectacular,  perhaps,  than  some  of  his  other 
146 


LEADING  UP  TO  YORKTOWN 

notable  exploits,  this  charge  served  to  save  his 
command  from  envelopment  by  a  force  of  five 
times  their  number,  and  has  been  universally 
praised  by  military  authorities. 

After  the  battle  at  Green  Spring  Cornwallis 
resumed  his  march  to  Portsmouth,  where  he 
carefully  fortified  himself,  and  prepared  to 
make  a  lengthy  stay.  Lafayette  was  afraid, 
however,  that  he  might  use  this  city  as  a  base 
for  further  marauding  expeditions,  and  ordered 
Wayne  to  cross  the  river,  and  take  up  a  posi- 
tion at  a  place  known  as  Westover.  In  this  po- 
sition of  vantage  he  could  effectually  oppose 
any  attempt  to  gain  the  open  country  in  the 
direction  of  Norfolk  and  Petersburg,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  would  be  barred  from  a  retreat 
into  North  Carolina. 

Thus,  these  two  faithful  commanders  did 
their  best  to  carry  out  the  instructions  of  Wash- 
ington, but  the  Commander-in-Chief  had  other, 
and  even  greater  objects  in  view,  which  included 
nothing  less  than  the  investment  and  capture  of 
Cornwallis  and  his  entire  command.  So  ably 
did  Washington  dissemble  his  real  plans  that 
147 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

Sir  Henry  Clinton  was  led  to  suppose  that  he 
intended  making  an  attack  on  New  York,  backed 
by  the  forces  under  Rochambeau,  then  stationed 
at  Newport.  Accordingly,  with  singular  fatuity, 
he  ably  assisted  Washington's  real  objects  by 
ordering  Obrnwallis  to?  select  the  most  con- 
venient position  near  the  mouth  of  the  Chesa- 
peake, and  there  await  the  cooperation  of  the 
British  fleet  under  Admirals  Hood  and  Graves. 
In  giving  these  commands,  he  was  ignorant,  of 
course,  that  Washington  had  information  that 
a  powerful  French  fleet,  under  Count  De  Grasse, 
was  on  the  way  from  the  West  Indies,  and  would 
enter  Hampton  Roads  late  in  August,  also  that 
another  fleet,  under  Barras,  had  sailed  from 
Newport  to  make  a  rendezvous  at  the  same  time. 
De  Grasse 's  fleet  carried  3,000  troops,  while 
that  of  Barras  brought  down  the  heavy  siege 
guns  and  full  stores  for  the  army.  Thus,  on 
the  arrival  of  Washington,  on  September  26, 
after  his  wonderful  march  from  New  Jersey, 
the  investment  of  Yorktown  was  already  begun. 
The  combined  French  fleet  engaged  the  British 
ships  outside  the  mouth  of  the  Chesapeake,  and 
148 


LEADING  UP  TO  YORKTOWN 

so  disabled  them  that  they  could  take  no  further 
part  in  the  conflict. 

There  was  little  opportunity  for  brilliant  and 
dashing  military  movements  in  this  affair ;  nor 
was  any  attempted.  Wayne 's  corps  was  present 
during  the  entire  period,  as  a  part  of  the  di- 
vision commanded  by  Baron  von  Steuben,  tak- 
ing their  part  in  the  daily  routine  duties  of  the 
siege.  The  situation  for  Cornwallis  was  des- 
perate. No  resistance  was  possible  that  could 
at  all  contribute  to  his  relief.  Consequently, 
on  the  morning  of  October  19,  1781,  he  surren- 
dered himself  and  his  entire  command  prisoners 
of  war. 


CHAPTER 
IN  THE  SOUTH 

LET  us  go  back  to  the  spring  of  1780.  Gen- 
eral Wayne  had  been  ordered  to  go  South 
with  a  detachment  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line, 
800  strong,  and  join  General  Nathanael  Greene, 
then  commanding  the  southern  department  In 
his  correspondence  Wayne  gives  as  his  reason 
for  his  failure  to  advance  immediately  upon 
receiving  orders  that  "the  troops  were  retarded 
in  advancing  to  the  general  rendezvous  (York, 
Pennsylvania)  by  the  unaccountable  delay  of 
the  auditors  appointed  to  settle  and  pay  the  pro- 
portion of  the  depreciation  due  the  men."  The 
fact  is  that  he  was  face  to  face  with  another 
mutiny.  Later  he  was  delayed  by  the  advance 
of  Cornwallis  into  Virginia;  and  so  it  was  not 
until  January  4,  1782,  that  he  and  his  detach- 
ment, consisting  of  Colonel  Butler's,  Colonel 
[Walter  Stewart's,  and  Colonel  Craig's  Battal- 
150 


IN  THE  SOUTH 

ions  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line,  and  Colonel 
Gist's  Maryland  Battalion  joined  General 
Greene  at  Bound  0,  in  Sonth  Carolina.  In  the 
meantime,  General  Greene  had  won  the  battle  at 
Eutaw  Springs,  by  which,  quoting  from  Wayne 
again,  "The  British  were  cooped  up  in  Charles- 
ton till  the  end  of  the  war." 

Immediately  following  the  arrival  of  Wayne 
at  his  camp,  General  Greene  sent  him  to  the 
aid  of  Georgia,  where  a  most  distressing  condi- 
tion of  affairs  had  come  about — not  so  much 
as  the  result  of  the  British  operations  as  the 
culmination  of  the  bitter  partisan  feelings  that 
had,  for  a  long  time,  been  rampant  between  the 
inhabitants  of  that  state.  In  the  bitter,  malig- 
nant hatred  subsisting  between  the  Whigs  and 
Tories,  every  man's  hand  was  against  his 
brother;  in  the  background  was  the  common 
enemy — the  Indians;  slender  protection  could 
be  procured  for  life  or  property,  no  matter  by 
whom  despoiled.  Taxes  were  not  to  be  collected, 
and  so  impoverished  was  the  state's  exchequer, 
that,  in  1782,  the  Legislature  of  the  state  passed 
a  law  authorizing  the  governor  to  seize  upon  the 
151 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

first  ten  negroes  he  could  find  and  sell  them, 
the  proceeds  to  go  toward  the  payment  of  his 
salary.  The  most  lamentable  outrage,  prac- 
ticed by  both  Whigs  and  Tories  in  their  inter- 
necine strife,  was  the  custom  of  putting  pris- 
oners to  death  after  surrender. 

The  only  British  garrison  in  Georgia  which 
assumed  any  proportions  was  stationed  at  Sa- 
vannah. It  was  composed  of  1,300  British  regu- 
lars, 500  well  organized  and  well  armed  Tories, 
any  number  of  Tory  refugees,  and,  in  addition 
to  these,  several  hundred  Indian  allies.  To  op- 
pose these  Wayne  had  at  his  command  about 
one  hundred  of  Moylan's  dragoons,  three  hun- 
dred mounted  men  from  Sumpter 's  brigade,  and 
one  hundred  and  seventy  volunteers,  the  whole 
totaling  570  men,  besides  the  artillery,  which 
numbered  less  than  one  hundred  men,  practi- 
cally all  raw  and  undisciplined  troops.  With 
this  discouraging  outlook,  it  is  small  wonder 
that  the  General's  heart  cried  out  for  his  tried 
Pennsylvania  troops  who  were  retained  in 
South  Carolina  by  General  Greene.  To  the  lat- 
ter he  wrote  a  pathetic  but  unavailing  letter: 
152 


IN  THE  SOUTH 

"Pray  give  me  an  additional  number  of  Penn- 
sylvania troops.  I  will  be  content  with  one  bat- 
talion of  Pennsylvanians.  They  can  bring  their 
own  field  equipage  without  breaking  in  upon 
any  part  of  the  army.  I  will  candidly  acknowl- 
edge that  I  have  extraordinary  confidence  and 
attachment  in  the  officers  and  men  who  have 
fought  and  bled  with  me  during  so  many  cam- 
paigns. Therefore,  if  they  can  be  spared,  you 
will  much  oblige  me." 

In  spite  of  the  disadvantages  enumerated, 
General  Wayne's  forces  established  themselves 
at  Ebenezer,  twenty-five  miles  up  the  river  from 
Savannah,  and  made  preparations  to  isolate  this 
garrison  from  the  rest  of  the  state — and  par- 
ticularly to  accomplish  its  separation  from  the 
Indian  allies.  In  the  meantime,  while  his  prep- 
arations for  military  activity  were  being  made, 
Wayne  carried  his  campaign  into  other  quar- 
ters by  recommending  to  Governor  Martin,  of 
Georgia,  that  he  issue  a  proclamation  offering 
pardon  and  protection  to  the  Tories  who  would 
join  the  patriots,  and  which,  by  the  way,  indi- 
cated also  the  scant  courtesy  that  would  be  ex- 
153 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

tended  to  the  Royalists  within  the  state  in  the 
event  of  the  success  of  the  patriot  army.  It 
was  hoped  this  would  produce  salutary  effects. 
His  preparations  completed,  Wayne  at  once 
proceeded  to  the  execution  of  his  arduous  task. 
Crossing  the  Savannah  River,  February  19, 
1782,  he  applied  himself  to  the  seemingly  hope- 
less task  of  detaching  the  Indians  from  the 
British  service.  While  near  the  Ogeechee  River, 
fifteen  miles  from  Savannah,  he  heard  of  a  num- 
ber of  Creek  Indians  on  their  way  to  Savannah. 
Promptly  dressing  a  number  of  his  men  in 
British  uniforms,  he  sent  them  to  meet  the 
chiefs,  who  fell  victims  to  the  strategy,  and  were 
easily  captured.  After  taking  from  them  the 
provisions  which  they  were  carrying  down  to 
Savannah,  he  pointed  out  to  them  the  failure  of 
the  British,  the  certainty  that  the  Americans 
would  capture  Savannah,  and  made  the  request 
that  they  remain  neutral,  adding,  however,  that 
if  they  preferred  the  hatchet  to  the  olive  branch, 
the  Americans  were  ready  to  meet  them.  This 
done,  he  sent  them  home.  On  the  twenty-fourth 
of  February  Wayne  wrote:  "It  is  now  upward 
154 


IN  THE  SOUTH 

of  five  weeks  since  we  entered  the  state,  during 
which  period  not  an  officer  nor  soldier  has  once 
undressed,  except  for  the  purpose  of  changing 
his  linen,  nor  do  the  enemy  lay  on  beds  of 
down."  This  waiting  period  terminated 
abruptly  on  the  night  of  the  twenty-first  of  May, 
when  Wayne  encountered  the  greater  part  of  the 
Savannah  garrison,  under  General  Brown,  who 
had  come  out  to  meet  a  band  of  several  hundred 
Creeks.  Acting  upon  his  maxim,  "that  the  suc- 
cess of  a  night  attack  depends  more  upon  the 
prowess  of  the  men  than  their  numbers,"  he  led 
his  three  hundred  infantry  and  one  hundred 
dragoons  through  forty  miles  of  swamp  to  the 
enemy's  camp.  His  vanguard — one-fifth  as 
strong  as  the  British  force — charged  with  such 
impetuosity  that  Colonel  Brown's  whole  comple- 
ment, picked  infantry,  Hessians,  and  Tories, 
were  defeated  and  scattered. 

After  this  action,  General  Wayne  removed 
his  camp  to  Sharon,  five  miles  in  front  of  Sa- 
vannah. At  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  his  rear 
guard  was  attacked  by  a  large  body  of  Creek 
Indians,  who  were  evidently  not  impressed  with 
155 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

the  advantages  of  remaining  neutral  and  who 
were  under  the  leadership  of  Gueristersigo,  the 
most  famous  of  Creek  warriors.  After  a  slight 
recoil  Wayne's  forces  recovered  from  their 
surprise  and  charged  with  such  undaunted 
valor  that  the  savages  were  routed  and  driven 
into  the  swamp.  Gueristersigo  was  slain,  and 
in  one  of  his  letters  relating  to  this  encounter, 
Wayne  relates  a  dramatic  episode  which  prob- 
ably has  reference  to  the  warrior  chieftain.  He 
says :  ' '  Such  was  the  determined  bravery  with 
which  the  Indians  fought,  that  after  I  had  cut 
down  one  of  their  chiefs,  with  his  last  breath, 
he  drew  his  trigger,  and  shot  my  noble  horse 
from  under  me."  At  daybreak,  the  British  ap- 
peared, but  were  driven  back  to  their  garrison. 
Although  the  House  of  Commons  had  voted 
against  the  continuance  of  the  war,  in  February, 
1782,  and  by  proclamation  had  ordered  Savan- 
nah, as  one  of  the  weaker  posts,  to  be  the  first 
evacuated,  such  was  the  stubborn  disposition 
of  its  defenders  that  only  after  the  success  of 
the  operations  of  the  Americans  narrated  above, 
could  they  see  the  wisdom  of  evacuating  the  city. 
156 


IN  THE  SOUTH 

This  they  finally  did  on  July  11, 1782.  Shortly 
afterward,  the  situation  of  Colonel  Greene  in 
South  Carolina  became  critical,  and  Wayne  was 
ordered  to  effect  an  immediate  junction  with 
him.  This  he  did  in  August.  The  light  in- 
fantry and  legionary  corps,  which  had  rendered 
him  such  important  service  in  Georgia,  were 
added  to  his  command,  and,  in  the  latter  part 
of  November,  he  pushed  on  toward  Charles- 
ton. On  December  14, 1782,  he  took  possession 
of  this  city,  the  last  stronghold  of  the  British 
in  the  South. 

General  Wayne,  notwithstanding  the  sobri- 
quet, "Mad  Anthony, "  had  once  more  proved 
himself  a  tactful  and  diplomatic,  as  well  as 
brave  and  fearless  leader,  and  at  the  end  of  his 
Southern  campaign  he  was  gratified  by  the  fol- 
lowing letter  from  General  Greene: 

"Dear  Sir: 

' '  I  am  very  happy  to  hear  that  the  enemy  have 
left    Savannah,    and    congratulate    you    most 
heartily  on  the  event.    I  have  forwarded  an  ac- 
count thereof  to  Congress  and  the  Commander- 
157 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

in-Chief,  expressive  of  yonr  singular  merit  and 
exertions  during  your  command,  and  doubt  not 
that  it  will  merit  their  entire  approbation,  as 
it  does  mine." 

Thus  brilliantly  closed  General  Wayne's  ac- 
tive campaign  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
the  only  sole  command  for  the  conduct  of  which 
he  had  been  personally  responsible.  His  ex- 
ploits in  compelling  the  evacuation  of  Savannah 
had  won  him  the  admiration  of  citizens  and 
soldiers  alike ;  he  was  hailed  as  a  military  genius 
and  was  referred  to  "as  incomparable  as  a 
general  and  strategist,"  the  hero  who  had  res- 
cued an  oppressed  people  from  the  harrowing 
anarchy  of  internal  disorders.  The  gratitude 
of  the  people  of  Georgia,  in  spite  of  the  dire 
poverty  of  the  state  and  its  inhabitants,  took 
a  most  commendable  form,  by  voting,  through 
their  Legislature,  3,900  guineas,  with  which 
they  purchased  a  rice  plantation  and  presented 
it  to  General  Wayne  as  a  practical  token  of  their 
gratitude,  and  also,  it  might  be  remarked,  with 
the  ulterior  view  of  inducing  him  to  become  a 
158 


IN  THE  SOUTH 

citizen  of  Georgia  at  the  close  of  the  war.  We 
shall  have  the  opportunity,  later,  to  contrast 
the  attitude  of  the  State  of  Georgia  with  that 
of  General  Wayne 's  native  commonwealth  to- 
ward the  one  man  who,  more  than  any  other, 
had  given  Pennsylvania  her  greatest  share  of 
glory  at  this  greatest  and  most  critical  period 
of  national  history.  In  referring  to  this  negli- 
gence of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  to  make 
suitable  acknowledgment  as  to  the  worth  of 
her  greatest  general,  one  of  Wayne's  old  com- 
rades in  Georgia  pungently  remarked:  "It 
gives  great  satisfaction  to  the  generous  souls 
among  your  friends  here,  to  think  that  the  peo- 
ple of  more  Southern  climes  have  paid  some 
deference  to  your  merits,  and  have  demon- 
strated it  in  a  more  solid  manner  than  empty 
praise.  This  is  an  article  of  no  more  worth 
here  than  the  Continental  currency." 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 

WITH  the  end  of  the  war  General  Wayne 
found  himself  confronted  by  serious 
problems.  Almost  immediately  after  reaching 
South  Carolina  he  had  found  his  health  se- 
riously impaired ;  in  consequence  of  the  fatigue 
and  exposure  to  which  his  strenuous  campaigns 
had  subjected  him,  he  fell  an  easy  victim  to  the 
malarial  infections  of  the  Southern  swamps; 
and  never  afterward  did  he  regain  his  full  health 
and  vigor.  Descriptive  of  this  phase  of  his  life, 
he  wrote  his  friend,  Dr.  Rush,  a  characteristic 
letter:  "My  physicians,  after  trying  the  pow- 
ers of  almost  the  whole  gamut  of  materia  med- 
ica,  have  directed  the  substitution  of  regimen 
and  moderate  exercise.  ...  Be  that  as  it  may, 
I  have  this  consolation,  that  neither  idleness  nor 
dissipation  has  so  injuriously  affected  my  con- 
160 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 

stitution;  but  that  it  had  been  exhausted  and 
broken  down,  by  encountering  almost  every  ex- 
cess of  fatigue,  difficulty,  and  danger,  in  the 
defense  of  the  rights  and  liberty  of  America, 
from  the  frozen  lakes  of  Canada  to  the  burning 
sands  of  Florida."  He  nevertheless  continued 
with  the  army  of  the  South,  taking  his  share  of 
the  labors  that  fell  to  the  officers  of  the  depleted 
little  band  of  men.  During  the  winter,  he  con- 
cluded treaties  of  peace  with  the  Creek  and 
Cherokee  Indians,  as  one  biographer  remarks, 
''completing  the  work  that  he  had  begun  with 
the  sword. ' '  Also  he  received  the  allegiance  of 
the  disaffected  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of 
North  and  South  Carolina,  thus  ending  his 
work  of  pacification. 

In  1783  General  Wayne  received  a  tardy 
recognition  of  the  extraordinary  value  of  his 
services  to  his  country  by  his  appointment  as 
major-general  by  brevet,  by  Congress  on  rec- 
ommendation of  the  executive  council  of  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania.  In  all  the  annals  of 
army  history  there  is  found  no  parallel  case 
to  the  failure  to  make  Wayne  a  major-general 
161 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

by  promotion;  and  it  does  not  improve  one's 
opinions  of  the  political  methods  of  his  day  to 
learn  that  this  signal  neglect  of  a  man  whom  all 
knew  to  be  one  of  the  most  patriotic  and  effi- 
cient officers  of  the  patriot  army  was  the  result 
of  well  meant  efforts  on  the  part  of  Congress 
to  avoid  incurring  jealousy  on  the  part  of  the 
states  which  had  furnished  the  greatest  number 
of  men  for  the  field.  Pennsylvania  had  a  suf- 
ficient quota  of  men  in  service  to  entitle  her  to 
three  major-generals,  but  since  a  part  of  them 
were  dispersed  on  the  frontiers,  this  state  had 
but  two  commissions ;  one  of  these  was  held  by 
General  Mifflin,  and  the  other  by  General  St. 
Glair,  both  of  whom,  it  must  be  admitted,  had 
claims  to  political  influence.  Had  there  been  a 
third  commission,  its  holder  would  undoubtedly 
have  been  Anthony  Wayne.  Certainly,  it  is 
curious  to  note  that,  although  there  was  no  dis- 
senting voice  as  to  General  Wayne's  skill  as  a 
strategist  or  record  for  personal  bravery,  Con- 
gress was  compelled  by  political  necessity  to 
withhold  from  him  all  public  recognition,  until 
his  services  had  been  of  so  conspicuous  a  nature 
162 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAE 

that  to  have  longer  withheld  his  commission 
would  have  been  a  national  scandal. 

About  this  time,  too,  much  unpleasantness 
and  actual  sorrow  overtook  Wayne  in  connec- 
tion with  his  affiliation  with  and  the  prominent 
part  he  took  in  the  formation  of  the  Society  of 
the  Cincinnati,  a  fraternal  association  estab- 
lished among  the  surviving  officers  of  the  Revo- 
lution for  the  laudable  purpose  of  aiding  each 
other,  and,  at  the  same  time,  commemorating 
their  valiant  deeds.  With  what  seems  to  have 
been  the  characteristic  attitude  of  those  who 
were  guiding  the  helm  of  state  during  this  criti- 
cal period  of  our  national  life,  every  effort  was 
made  by  politicians  to  discredit  the  motives  of 
the  sponsors  of  the  Society.  They  were  hailed 
as  aristocrats,  denounced  as  the  forerunner  of 
the  entire  loss  of  national  liberty;  and  some 
malcontents  and  hot-heads  declared  it  should 
be  possible  to  disenfranchise  every  member  of 
the  Society — and,  if  necessary,  "to  drive  every 
soul  of  them  out  of  the  state. ' '  General  Wayne, 
who  had  borne  without  complaint  all  slights  to 
his  own  personal  dignity,  as  he  himself  had  said, 
163 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

* '  solely  because  of  his  love  for  his  country  and 
his  sense  of  duty,"  felt  keenly  the  unjust  and 
ungenerous  suspicions  which  were  being  circu- 
lated concerning  the  good  intentions  of  the  pa- 
triotic founders  of  the  Society  and  expressed 
his  sorrowful  and  indignant,  but  clear-headed, 
view  of  the  situation  in  a  letter  to  his  friend, 
General  Irvine.  He  wrote : 

"Dear  General:  The  revolution  of  America 
is  an  event  that  will  fill  the  brightest  page  of 
history  to  the  end  of  time.  The  conduct  of  her 
officers  and  soldiers  will  be  handed  down  to  the 
latest  ages  as  a  model  of  virtue,  perseverance 
and  bravery.  The  smallness  of  their  numbers, 
and  the  unparalleled  hardships  and  excess  of 
difficulties  they  have  encountered  in  the  defense 
of  their  country,  from  the  coldest  to  the  hottest 
sun,  places  them  in  a  point  of  view  hurtful  to 
the  eyes  of  the  leaders  of  the  factions  and  par- 
ties who  possess  neither  the  virtue  nor  the 
fortitude  to  meet  the  enemy  in  the  field,  and  see- 
ing the  involuntary  deference  paid  by  the  people 
to  the  gentlemen  of  the  army, — envy,  that  green- 
eyed  monster,  will  stimulate  them  to  seize  with 
164 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAE 

avidity  every  opportunity  to  depreciate  the 
merits  of  those  who  have  filled  the  breach  and 
bled  at  every  pore."  Again  he  descants  upon 
" Caitiff"  ingratitude,  going  back  for  his  pre- 
cedents to  the  story  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and 
possibly  to  the  early  teachings  of  his  Uncle 
Gilbert. 

General  Wayne's  solicitude  for  his  men  did 
not  end  with  the  war,  and  his  anxiety  that  the 
return  of  his  soldiers  to  civil  life  should  be 
made  as  easy  and  simple  for  them  as  possible 
was  yet  another  source  of  friction  between  his 
ideas  and  those  of  the  government  of  the  state. 
On  April  20,  1783,  he  wrote  President  Dick- 
enson,  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  the  fol- 
lowing letter :  "You  are  pleased  to  ask  my  ad- 
vice on  anything  respecting  the  troops  under 
my  command  belonging  to  the  state.  ...  I 
fondly  flatter  myself  that  the  wisdom  and  jus- 
tice of  the  Executive  and  Legislative  bodies  of 
Pennsylvania  will  receive  the  returning  soldiers 
with  open  arms  and  grateful  hearts,  and  I  can- 
not entertain  a  doubt  that  they,  on  their  part, 
will  cheerfully  and  contentedly  resume  the 
165 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

garb  and  habits  of  the  citizen."  What  must 
have  been  his  feeling  in  regard  to  the  disgrace- 
ful occurrence  which  accompanied  the  discharge 
and  disbanding  of  his  beloved  Pennsylvania 
troops ! 

In  June,  1783,  the  soldiers  of  the  American 
army  received  a  six  months'  furlough,  and,  a 
definite  treaty  of  peace  having  been  agreed 
upon  in  the  meanwhile,  they  were  discharged 
in  the  following  December.  The  soldiers  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Line  were  paid  off  with  notes  of  a 
nominal  value  of  twenty  shillings  each,  but 
which  were  discounted  to  one-tenth  of  that 
amount;  and  some  recruits  from  the  western 
counties  went  in  a  body  to  Philadelphia  to  de- 
mand justice,  an  action  concerning  which  there 
was  an  unwarrantable  misunderstanding.  With- 
out the  slightest  intention  or  sign  of  violence 
on  the  part  of  these  troops,  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  Congress  became  alarmed  and  adjourned 
to  Princeton,  alleging  that  their  liberty  was 
threatened  by  a  mob,  a  statement  which  failed 
to  win  either  the  sympathy  or  the  credulity  of 
the  populace.  There  was,  in  truth,  small  need 
166 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 

for  disturbance,  since  the  first  two  companies  of 
Wayne's  veterans  had  just  arrived  from  South 
Carolina  and  were  quartered  in  the  city  bar- 
racks. Had  the  disgruntled  recruits,  many  of 
whom  had  never  been  in  the  field,  really  been 
dangerous,  the  general's  loyalty  would  have  led 
him  to  give  the  authorities  any  necessary  pro- 
tection. 

General  Wayne  saw  the  last  of  his  Pennsyl- 
vania troops  embarked  from  Charleston,  en 
route  to  Philadelphia,  July,  1783.  So  shattered 
was  his  health  by  the  fever  and  privations  he 
had  undergone,  that  he  was  prevented  from 
being  a  participator  in  the  impressive  cere- 
monies that  attended  Washington's  farewell  to 
his  army.  Also,  he  was  unable  to  appear  in  line 
with  his  chief  on  his  triumphal  progress  through 
Philadelphia  on  his  way  to  Mount  Vernon. 
Wayne  now  settled  down  on  his  patrimonial 
estate  in  Chester  county,  and  gave  the  time 
which  he  had  freely  bestowed  upon  his  country 
to  the  service  of  his  state. 

In  1776  the  Constitution  of  the  state  of  Penn- 
sylvania had  created  a  Board  of  Censors — a 
167 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

body  of  men  who  should  be  elected  once  in  seven 
years  to  review  the  work  of  the  various 
branches  of  the  state  government;  and  to  de- 
termine whether  this  same  government  had  been 
well  or  ill  conducted;  also  they  were  to  make 
a  report  of  their  findings  to  the  people — in  all, 
a  most  comprehensive  program.  To  this  Board 
of  Censors  General  Wayne  was  elected  late  in 
the  year  1783,  and  he  became  at  once  one  of  its 
most  active  members.  As  the  chairman  of  the 
committee  appointed  to  ascertain  how  far  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  had  been  carried 
out  by  legislation,  and  in  what  way,  if  at  all, 
they  had  been  violated,  he  made  a  memorable 
report.  In  this  he  showed  his  anxiety  that,  now 
that  peace  was  restored,  conciliatory  measures 
should  be  adopted  and  such  a  course  pursued  as 
to  make  the  transition  from  a  state  of  revolu- 
tion to  a  condition  of  normal  citizenship  as  sim- 
ple a  matter  as  possible.  Among  the  impor- 
tant measures  advised  by  the  committee,  of 
which  General  Wayne  was  spokesman,  was  a 
report  strongly  urging  the  revision  of  the  Con- 
stitution for  the  reasons  thus  frankly  stated: 
168 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 

"It  is  known  how  in  times  of  danger,  the  Con- 
stitution of  1776  forsook  ns,  and  the  will  of  our 
rulers  became  our  only  law.  It  is  well  known, 
likewise,  that  a  great  part  of  the  citizens  of 
Pennsylvania,  from  a  perfect  conviction  that 
political  liberty  could  never  long  exist  under 
such  a  frame  of  government,  were  opposed  to 
the  establishment  of  it,  and  when  they  did  sub- 
mit to  it,  a  solemn  engagement  was  entered  into 
by  its  friends,  that  after  7  years  should  be  ex- 
pired and  the  enemy  driven  from  our  coasts, 
they  would  concur  with  them  in  making  the 
wished-for  amendments. " 

On  his  retirement  from  the  Board  of  Censors, 
in  1784,  General  Wayne  was  elected  to  the 
General  Assembly  to  represent  his  native  county 
of  Chester,  serving  with  distinction  during  the 
years  1784-1786.  This  post  found  him  as  active 
and  as  aggressive  in  the  interest  of  justice  and 
humanity  as  past  record  had  proved  him  to 
have  been  in  the  performance  of  any  duty  to 
which  he  was  called.  His  chief  desire  was  to 
make  the  Revolution  and  its  results  a  source  of 
blessing  to  all,  and  with  this  in  view,  his  efforts 
169 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

were  mainly  directed  to  the  unification  and  gen- 
eral satisfaction  of  all  who  made  up  the  body 
politic  of  the  state.  In  this  endeavor,  his  at- 
tention was  necessarily  directed  to  the  notorious 
"test  laws"  of  Pennsylvania,  passed  in  1777 
and  1778,  and  which  disenfranchised  forever, 
as  suspected,  Tories,  Royalists,  and  others  who 
had  refused,  before  November,  1779,  to  take  the 
oath  renouncing  allegiance  to  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  and  declaring  fidelity  to  the  state  of 
Pennsylvania.  Among  those  to  whom  this  law 
bore  great  hardship  were  the  Quakers,  who 
from  religious  scruples  were  opposed  to  all 
political  tests,  and  who  formed  the  most  praise- 
worthy part  of  the  state.  In  all,  these  acts  af- 
fected nearly  one-half  of  the  population  of 
Pennsylvania — if  the  amount  of  taxable 
property  be  taken  into  consideration,  more  than 
that — and  those  who  refused  to  subscribe  were 
declared  incapable  of  electing  or  being  elected, 
or  holding  any  place  under  the  government,  they 
were  precluded  from  serving  on  juries,  keep- 
ing schools,  except  in  private  houses,  and  for- 
ever excluded  from  taking  said  oath  afterward. 
170 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAE 

By  reason  of  his  distinguished  military  ca- 
reer, General  Wayne  was  particularly  adapted 
to  the  task  of  amending  this  grievance  to  the 
citizens  of  his  state,  and  here,  as  elsewhere,  he 
showed  himself  a  fearless  and  persistent  fighter. 
His  first  petition  asking  for  the  abandonment 
of  these  "tests,"  presented  in  March,  1784, 
was  defeated.  In  September,  and  again  in 
December,  propositions  made  by  General 
Wayne  were  voted  down,  a  committee  reporting 
on  the  latter  occasion,  "that  it  would  be  im- 
politic and  dangerous  to  admit  persons  who  had 
been  inimical  to  the  sovereignty  and  independ- 
ence of  the  state  to  have  a  common  participa- 
tion in  the  government  so  soon  after  the  War." 
A  bit  of  sophistry  as  short-sighted  as  it  was 
lacking  in  ingenuity.  The  struggle  began  in  1784 
and  continued  until  1789,  when  a  motion  was 
adopted  to  repeal  all  laws  requiring  any  oath 
or  affirmation  of  allegiance  from  the  inhabitants 
of  the  state. 

In  1787  General  Wayne  was  a  member  of  the 
Convention  called  in  Pennsylvania  to  ratify  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  it  is  need- 
171 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

less  to  say  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  ardent 
supporters  of  its  adoption.  His  distinguished 
public  career  had,  however,  for  a  long  time 
been  harassed  by  the  unfortunate  state  of  his 
domestic  concerns.  By  the  year  1790  it  was 
clear  to  all  that  the  brave  and  resourceful  gen- 
eral was  a  very  poor  business  man — if  success 
meant  the  ability  to  compete  with  the  money- 
makers of  his  time.  It  was  a  disgraceful  period, 
when  low,  thievish  methods  of  transacting  busi- 
ness were  looked  upon  with  the  greatest  indul- 
gence. Also,  the  sanguine  nature  which  had 
been  one  of  his  most  valuable  characteristics  in 
enheartening  his  soldiers  and  bringing  his  mili- 
tary campaigns  to  a  victorious  end,  became  in 
private  life  his  most  serious  drawback ;  and  with 
the  fatality  which  seemed  to  attend  him,  the 
plantation  in  Georgia,  with  which  its  citizens 
had  presented  him  with  such  good  intentions, 
now  became  the  source  of  his  deepest  unhappi- 
ness  and  humiliation. 

He  had  devoted  much  of  his  time  since  his 
return  from  the  army  to  the  rehabilitation  of 
his  handsome  patrimonial  estate  in  Chester 
172 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 

county,  which  had  suffered  severely  in  the  hands 
of  the  agents  in  whose  hands  he  had  been 
obliged  to  commit  his  interests  during  his  long 
absence  in  his  country's  behalf.  In  the  mean- 
time, he  was  seeking  to  devise  a  means  by  which 
his  rice  plantation  in  Georgia  could  be  made 
productive.  This  could  not  be  managed  with- 
out the  purchase  of  slaves  to  a  considerable 
number,  and  for  this  outlay  he  did  not  have  the 
means.  Someone,  probably  his  friend  Robert 
Morris,  suggested  to  him  that  he  negotiate  a 
loan  for  that  purpose  in  Holland.  Acting  upon 
this  hint,  Wayne  wrote  the  Minister  Resident  of 
Holland  in  this  country,  Mr.  Van  Berkle,  a  letter 
wherein  he  set  forth  the  nature  of  his  security 
and  his  needs  in  picturesque  terms  that  bear  un- 
mistakable evidence  of  the  integrity  with  which 
he  expected  to  carry  out  his  share  of  the  bar- 
gain. After  some  formal  information  as  to  lo- 
cation, etc.,  he  says : 

"The  estate  used  to  net  Sir  James  Wright 

from  800  to  1,000  guineas  per  annum— it  is 

therefore  an  object  of  considerable  consequence 

to  me  to  set  to  work  again  as  soon  as  possible, 

173 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

for  which  purpose  I  shall  proceed  for  that  Quar- 
ter in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  in  order  to  pre- 
pare it  for  a  crop  in  the  Spring,  but  I  shall  want 
the  aid  of  about  4,000  guineas  to  stock  it  with 
negroes. 

"I  will  punctually  pay  the  Interest  by  annu- 
ally remitting  rice  to  Amsterdam,  altogether 
with  the  principal  in  the  course  of  two  or  three 
years." 

It  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  state  of  our 
national  credit  at  the  beginning  of  our  history 
as  a  united  people  that  neither  in  this  country 
nor  in  Europe  could  one  of  America's  greatest 
military  heroes  borrow  four  thousand  guineas 
on  the  security  which  included  both  his  Georgia 
plantation  and  his  Pennsylvania  estate.  Unfor- 
tunately it  did  not  occur  to  the  general  that  such 
a  state  of  things  could  exist,  and  thinking  the 
loan  concluded,  he  drew  bills  for  that  amount  on 
his  correspondents,  probably,  as  evidence  goes 
to  show,  using  the  whole  amount  for  the  pur- 
chase of  negroes.  The  bills  fell  into  the  hands 
of  a  Scotch  agent  in  Savannah  who  demanded 
immediate  payment.  After  many  difficulties 
174 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 

and  embarrassments,  Wayne  was  ultimately 
obliged,  in  order  to  save  his  patrimonial  estate, 
to  sacrifice  his  Georgia  property.  In  full  justice 
to  him  let  it  be  here  said  that  he  had  made  this 
proposition  in  the  beginning  of  the  controversy, 
and  that  the  only  answer  to  this  was  a  suit  in 
law,  the  only  object  of  which  was  to  make  both 
his  estates  liable  for  payment. 

In  1890,  although  it  was  quite  apparent  that 
all  hope  of  his  becoming  a  resident  of  Georgia, 
even  for  a  part  of  the  time,  as  he  had  intended  to 
do,  was  past,  a  large  number  of  his  friends  there 
determined  that  General  Wayne  should  repre- 
sent them  in  Congress.  Accordingly  he  was 
returned  as  elected  on  January  3,  1791;  but 
at  the  instigation  of  his  opponent  the  House  in- 
vestigated and  on  March  16,  1792,  set  forth 
that  "  Anthony  Wayne  was  not  duly  elected  a 
Member  of  this  House. "  At  no  time  was  it  ever 
charged  that  Wayne  had  any  knowledge  of  or 
part  in  the  irregularities  charged  to  his  over- 
zealous  friends.  His  own  version  of  the  matter, 
given  soon  after  the  decision  of  the  House,  is  no 
doubt  the  correct  one.  He  says:  "Both  Fed- 
175 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

eralists  and  Anti-Federalists  pronounced  in  the 
halls  of  Congress,  after  the  fullest  investiga- 
tion, my  character  stood  pure  and  unsullied  as  a 
soldier's  ought  to  be." 

After  the  chagrin  attendant  upon  the  unfor- 
tunate Georgia  controversy,  it  was  small  won- 
der that  General  Wayne  felt  an  overwhelming 
desire  to  go  back  to  military  life.  In  line  with 
this  he  urged  one  of  his  friends,  a  member  of 
Congress,  to  petition  for  his  appointment  to 
the  command  of  the  forces  which  his  judgment 
with  regard  to  the  dangers  that  menaced  his 
country  convinced  him  would  be  needed  at  no 
distant  date  to  repel  the  incursions  of  the  Creek 
Indians.  Only  a  few  days  after  the  question  of 
his  Congressional  election  had  been  decided 
President  Washington  evinced  his  confidence  in 
him  as  a  man  of  honor  and  the  foremost  mili- 
tary leader  of  the  young  Republic  by  appointing 
him  General-in-Chief  of  the  army. 


CHAPTER  XV 
CALLED  BACK  TO  THE  ARMY 

THE  magnitude  of  the  trust  reposed  in 
General  Wayne  by  President  Washington 
can  only  be  understood  in  the  light  of  the  seri- 
ous conditions  prevailing  on  the  Northwestern 
frontier  at  the  time  of  General  Wayne's  ap- 
pointment. After  the  cession  of  the  lands  north 
and  west  of  the  Ohio  Eiver  to  the  United  States 
by  Virginia  and  Connecticut,  a  territorial  gov- 
ernment had  been  formed  in  that  region,  by  the 
ordinance  of  Congress  of  July  13,  1787 — a  fa- 
mous document  in  American  history — and  Gen- 
eral Arthur  St.  Clair  was  appointed  governor. 
Emigrants  were  offered  every  inducement,  and 
large  bodies  of  them  sought  homes  in  this 
Northwest  Territory.  These  pioneers  lived  in 
constant  fear  of  the  savages,  for  the  Indian 
allies  of  Great  Britain  had  refused  to  bury  the 
hatchet  when  peace  was  made,  some  historians 
177 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

claiming  that,  actuated  by  the  hope  of  acquiring 
the  Northwest  Territory  and  the  Canadas  in 
time,  the  British  had  persuaded  the  red  men  to 
fight  for  their  lands.  Add  to  this  supposititious 
case  a  determination  on  the  part  of  the  savage, 
quite  independent  of  any  quarrel  with  the 
whites,  that  the  white  man  should  never  occupy 
the  lands  west  of  the  Ohio,  and  the  true  source 
of  the  frequent  raiding  and  scalping  parties  is 
apparent.  From  1783  to  1790  it  was  estimated 
that  no  fewer  than  1,500  seittlers,  including 
women  and  children,  had  been  slain  or  captured 
by  the  Shawnees  and  Delawares  who  occupied 
the  region. 

These  tribes,  reinforced  by  the  Wyandottes, 
the  Miamis,  the  Chippewas  and  the  Pottawato- 
mies,  concentrated  near  the  Miami  and  the  Mau- 
mee  rivers  and  Lake  Erie.  Here  they  had  ac- 
cess to  the  Indians  of  the  interior,  to  the  Ca- 
nadians, and  the  British,  who  were  still  holding 
Detroit  and  other  posts  northwest  of  the  Ohio. 
Both  of  these  latter,  no  one  doubts  who  searches 
the  records,  aided  and  encouraged  the  Indians 
in  their  forays  by  the  loan  of  organized  forces. 
178 


CALLED  BACK  TO  THE  ARMY 

In  January,  1789,  Governor  St.  Clair,  finding 
that  he  was  unable  to  compel  the  Indians  to 
stand  by  their  treaties,  determined  to  send  a 
military  force  to  the  rescue  of  the  helpless  fron- 
tiersmen, and  in  1790  General  Harmar,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  most  distinguished  officers  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Line,  was  dispatched  to  put  an 
end  to  the  Indian  atrocities.  This  army,  badly 
equipped  and  undisciplined,  led  by  officers  who, 
though  they  were  brave,  were  lacking  in  experi- 
ence in  the  ways  of  the  wily  red  man,  met  the 
Indians  in  force  at  what  is  now  Fort  Wayne, 
Indiana,  and,  practically  annihilated,  were 
forced  to  retreat  to  Fort  Washington  (Cincin- 
nati). The  moral  effect  of  this  failure  was  dis- 
tressing; the  savages  were  only  the  more  in- 
censed and  confident  in  their  own  prowess,  and 
made  their  attacks  with  greater  ferocity  than 
before. 

General  St.  Clair  himself  was  now  sent  to  the 
Northwest  with  a  picked  band  of  men,  consisting 
of  2,300  regular  troops.  On  November  3,  1791, 
he  encamped  where  Recovery,  Mercer  County, 
Ohio,  now  stands.  Here  was  the  man  of  destiny, 
179 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

and  the  eyes  of  the  nation  were  fixed  upon  him 
with  lively  solicitude.  The  fight  began  at  sun- 
rise of  November  4.  Regular  military  tactics 
failed  completely;  officer  after  officer  was  shot 
down,  until  upward  of  sixty  were  slain;  and 
when  the  Indians  penetrated  the  camp  of  the 
militia  at  the  end  of  the  line  the  result  was  a 
total  rout.  Besides  the  officers  enumerated  be- 
fore, 630  soldiers  were  killed,  and  of  the  remain- 
ing 1,400  who  survived  we  are  told  that  *  *  scarce 
half  a  hundred  were  unhurt."  Altogether  it 
was  the  most  disastrous  defeat  sustained  at  the 
hands  of  the  savages  since  the  historic  defeat  of 
General  Braddock ;  and  it  proved  an  even  great- 
er disaster  by  reason  of  the  great  depression 
felt  by  the  American  people.  In  this  battle  were 
killed  many  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in 
the  Pennsylvania  Line  under  Wayne 's  com- 
mand, and  that  leader  was  also  deprived  of  his 
heroic  and  brilliant  friend,  General  Richard 
Butler. 

The  dismay  and  consternation  into  which 
these  defeats,  especially  that  of  General  St. 
Clair,  threw  the  country  made  capital  for  the 
180 


CALLED  BACK  TO  THE  AEMY 

opponents  of  the  administration;  while  from 
continued  ill  success  the  people  looked  with  dis- 
favor upon  a  military  life  as  a  calling,  the  only 
certain  reward  of  which  would  be  to  fall  by  the 
rifle,  the  tomahawk,  or  the  scalping-knife,  for 
the  Indians  were  well  armed  and  provided  with 
powder  and  ball.  The  cost  of  maintaining  the 
army  in  the  present  low  condition  of  the  na- 
tional treasury  was  another  reason  against  an- 
other campaign;  and  the  many  abuses  which 
had  crept  into  the  management  of  the  St.  Clair 
campaign — insufficient  arms  and  wretched  food. 
All  these  things  furnished  proofs  to  the  public 
mind  of  gross  misconduct  on  the  part  of  the 
administration,  and  were  made  liberal  use  of  to 
accomplish  party  ends.  Congress,  however,  had 
sufficient  strength  to  support  the  President  in 
his  views,  and  by  an  act  approved  March  5, 
1792,  authorized  him  to  reorganize  the  army. 

It  can  now  be  readily  realized  that  at  this 
critical  juncture  the  selection  of  the  command- 
ing officer  was  more  important  than  at  any  time 
since  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution. 
Washington  must  risk  his  own  fame,  even,  in 
181 


THE  HEEO  OF  STONY  POINT 

this  one  act,  for  failure  would  mean  the  most 
deeply  humiliating  consequences.  A  man  was 
needed  who  possessed  sound  judgment,  the 
greatest  caution  and  coolness,  a  broad  knowl- 
edge of  military  science;  he  should  be  a  strict 
disciplinarian,  and,  above  all,  a  patriot.  Envi- 
ous officers  and  statesmen  who  had  the  ear  of 
the  President  constantly  represented  to  him 
that  " Wayne  was  brave  and  nothing  else*';  his 
unsuccessful  business  ventures  had  created  an 
ill  impression  which  his  strong  integrity  had  not 
counterbalanced;  and  his  love  of  fine  clothing 
and  display  were  vulnerable  points  of  criticism. 
Nevertheless,  Washington  found  that  much- 
needed  man  in  General  Wayne,  and  appointed 
him  to  the  command  of  his  expeditionary  forces 
in  April,  1792. 

The  United  States  army  as  it  was  then  organ- 
ized consisted  of  5,120  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers and  privates,  one  major-general,  four  brig- 
adier generals,  and  their  staffs,  the  whole  known 
as  the  Legion  of  the  United  States.  This  Legion 
was  to  be  subdivided  into  four  sub-legions,  each 
to  consist  of  1,280  non-commissioned  men  and 
182 


CALLED  BACK  TO  THE  AEMY 

privates.  With  this  force  of  men  General 
Wayne  set  out  on  his  expedition  May  24,  1792, 
stimulated  and  forewarned  by  the  parting  dec- 
laration of  Secretary  of  War,  General  Knox, 
that  "  another  defeat  would  be  inexpressibly 
ruinous  to  the  reputation  of  the  Government." 
Wayne's  only  stipulation  was  that  the  campaign 
should  not  begin  until  his  Legion  was  filled  up 
and  properly  disciplined,  wherein  we  may  see 
that  he  put  his  trust  in  good  management  rather 
than  in  good  fortune. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
FIGHTING  THE  NORTHERN  SAVAGES 

GENERAL  WAYNE  went  to  Pittsburgh  in 
June,  1792,  and  straightway  began  to  as- 
semble and  organize  his  Legion.  A  hard  task 
it  was!  His  recruits  were  gathered  from  the 
slums  and  prisons  of  the  Eastern  cities — the 
refuse  of  the  nation.  Tales  of  the  horrible  mu- 
tilations inflicted  by  the  Indians  and  the  plenti- 
fulness  of  whisky  about  Pittsburgh  were  hardly 
calculated  to  inspire  these  wretched  beings  with 
devotion  to  the  cause.  Desertions  followed  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  recruits  fled  in  squads, 
fifty-seven  leaving  a  small  detachment  on  the 
road  to  Pittsburgh  at  one  time,  and  of  those  who 
remained  Wayne  wrote  the  Secretary  of  War  in 
a  letter  dated  August  10,  1792: 

''Desertions  have  been  frequent  and  alarming 
— two  nights  since,  upon  a  report  that  a  large 
body  of  Indians  were  close  in  our  front,  I  or- 
184 


FIGHTING  THE  NORTHERN  SAVAGES 

dered  the  troops  to  form  for  action,  and  rode 
along  the  line  to  inspire  them  with  confidence, 
and  gave  a  charge  to  those  in  the  redoubts, 
which  I  had  hastily  thrown  up  in  our  front  and 
right  flank,  to  maintain  their  posts,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  blood,  until  I  could  gain  the  enemy's 
rear  with  the  dragoons ;  but  such  is  the  defect 
of  the  human  heart,  that  from  excess  of  cow- 
ardice one-third  of  the  sentries  deserted  from 
these  stations  so  as  to  leave  the  most  accessible 
places  unguarded." 

To  add  to  his  difficulties,  since  so  many  of 
his  most  dependable  officers  had  perished  in  the 
disastrous  campaigns  of  Generals  Harmar  and 
St.  Clair,  he  was  confronted  with  the  necessity 
of  drilling  officers  as  well  as  privates.  For  a 
time  he  worked  as  best  he  could  in  Pittsburgh, 
then,  on  November  28,  shipped  his  recruits,  who 
had  been  immeasurably  improved  in  discipline 
and  numbers,  down  the  Ohio  River  to  a  camp 
twenty-seven  miles  below  Pittsburgh,  which  he 
called  Legionville.  Here  he  settled  down  to  a 
winter  of  hard  work  as  drill-master. 

In  the  meantime,  mindful  of  his  duty  to  his 
185 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

Government  and  the  American  people,  "Wayne 
had  left  no  stone  unturned  to  ascertain  the  dis- 
position of  the  Indians  towards  peace.  He 
made  every  effort  to  impress  them  with  the  ear- 
nest desire  of  the  United  States  to  accept  any 
terms  that  would  be  just  and  honorable.  In  an- 
swer, the  Indians  continued  their  depredations 
on  the  frontier,  and,  claiming  superiority,  sent 
repeated  and  boastful  messages  as  to  their  hopes 
on  seeing  the  Legion  advance  into  their  coun- 
try. Colonel  Harding  and  Major  Truman,  who 
went  to  them — not,  it  must  be  understood,  by 
the  order  of  General  Wayne,  but  from  the  Gov- 
ernment— were  received  at  first  with  every  man- 
ifestation of  good-will  and  then  foully  mur- 
dered, despite  the  fact  that  they  carried  flags 
of  truce  and  were  unarmed.  Still  anxious  to 
conciliate,  Wayne  sent  an  invitation  to  a  coun- 
cil to  Cornplanter,  and  other  chiefs  of  the  Six 
Tribes  who  had  been  disposed  to  be  friendly. 
In  a  dramatic  toast  given  at  the  general's  table, 
Cornplanter  said:  "My  mind  and  heart  are 
upon  that  river" — pointing  to  the  Ohio — "may 
that  water  ever  continue  to  run  and  remain  the 
186 


FIGHTING   THE   NORTHERN   SAVAGES 

boundary  of  lasting  peace  between  the  Ameri- 
cans and  the  Indians  on  its  opposite  shores.'* 
This  sentiment  of  the  "friendly  Indians," 
fanned  and  sustained  by  British  policy,  became 
the  obsession  of  the  hostile  tribes,  who  de- 
manded that  the  Americans  renounce  all  claims 
north  and  west  of  the  Ohio,  regardless  of  treaty 
or  fair  purchase.  It  was,  therefore,  upon  the 
ground  of  the  protection  of  unquestionable 
rights,  as  well  as  for  the  purpose  of  curbing 
Indian  ferocity,  and  not  from  a  policy  of  aggres- 
sion, that  Wayne  advanced  at  last  into  the  coun- 
try of  the  savage. 

At  Legionville,  during  all  that  winter,  the 
resourceful  and  tireless  Wayne  wrought  won- 
ders with  his  hopeless  material.  A  review  of 
the  work  he  did  there  gives  us  a  new  view — 
that  of  thoroughness — of  the  fastidious  Revo- 
lutionary general  who  had  "an  insuperable  bias 
in  favor  of  an  elegant  uniform  and  soldierly  ap- 
pearance," and  who  was  "determined  to  pun- 
ish any  man  who  came  on  parade  with  a  long 
beard,  slovenly  dressed,  or  dirty."  He  in- 
structed his  riff-raff  mob  in  military  tactics  and 
187 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

duties;  more  than  that,  he  made  men  of  them, 
as  he  marched  them  up  and  down  the  parade 
grounds.  What  he  accomplished  that  winter 
has  led  one  historian  to  remark:  "Anthony 
Wayne — 'Mad  Anthony' — was  not  only  an  ideal 
leader  of  men  in  time  of  battle,  but  he  was  the 
most  capable  drillmaster  the  American  army 
ever  had. ' ' 

Of  the  result  of  his  efforts,  General  Wayne 
wrote  to  Secretary  Knox,  March  30, 1793,  "The 
progress  that  the  troops  have  made  both  in 
maneuvering  and  as  marksmen  astonished  the 
savages  on  St.  Patrick's  day;  and  I  am  happy 
to  inform  you  that  the  sons  of  that  Saint  were 
perfectly  sober  and  orderly,  being  out  of  reach 
of  whisky,  which  baneful  poison  is  prohibited 
from  entering  this  camp  except  as  the  compo- 
nent part  of  a  ration,  or  a  little  for  fatigue  duty, 
or  on  some  extraordinary  occasion."  With 
characteristic  hopefulness  he  was  now  inspired 
with  such  confidence  in  the  success  of  his  expe- 
dition that  he  solicited  the  secretary  of  state 
to  send  him  "certain  legionary  distinctive 
decorations;  also  a  legionary  standard,  and 
188 


FIGHTING   THE   NORTHERN   SAVAGES 

sub-legionary  and  battalion  colors."  On 
receiving  them  he  wrote:  "They  shall  not 
le  lost!" 

In  May,  1793,  General  Wayne  moved  his  camp 
to  Fort  Washington — the  present  site  of  Cincin- 
nati— where  he  continued  his  efforts  to  maintain 
a  well-disciplined  force.  From  the  administra- 
tion and  from  the  prevailing  conditions  of  the 
time,  all  adverse  to  obtaining  cooperation  and 
obedience  essential  to  the  preservation  of  an  un- 
broken front,  he  had  small  encouragement  to 
pursue  his  work.  In  January,  1793,  Secretary 
of  War,  General  Knox,  had  written : 

"The  sentiments  of  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  are  adverse  in  the  extreme  to  an  Indian 
war." 

A  commission,  consisting  of  three  prominent 
Americans,  General  Lincoln,  Colonel  Pickering, 
and  Beverly  Randolph,  Esq.,  of  Virginia,  were 
sent  by  the  government  to  treat  with  the  In- 
dians who  had  indicated  a  disposition  to  con- 
sider peace ;  and  while  these  negotiations  were 
pending,  Secretary  Knox  again  wrote : 

"It  will  therefore  be  still  more  and  more  nec- 
189 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

essary  even  than  in  the  past  summer,  that  no 
offensive  be  taken  against  the  Indians. ' ' 

Moreover,  it  is  said,  that  at  the  instigation  of 
the  British  who  accompanied  these  peace  com- 
missioners, the  latter  wrote  Secretary  Knox  a 
strong  protest  against  Wayne's  work  on  the 
drill-ground,  as  "this  procedure  on  his  part 
angered  the  Indians,  and  that  the  British  con- 
sidered it  unfair  and  unwarrantable. "  Never- 
theless the  general's  experience  with  the  sav- 
ages had  convinced  him  that  they  would  not 
yield,  and  he  persevered  in  perfecting  his  army. 
He  was  justified  in  his  convictions,  for  when 
the  peace  commissioners  reached  Detroit,  Au- 
gust 13,  1783,  they  received  from  a  general 
council  the  following  message: 

"Brothers :  We  shall  be  persuaded  that  you 
mean  to  do  us  justice  if  you  agree  that  the  Ohio 
shall  remain  the  boundary  line  between  us.  If 
you  will  not  consent  thereto,  our  meeting  will 
be  altogether  unnecessary. " 

A  battle  was  now  inevitable,  if  not  a  pro- 
longed war,  and  Wayne,  who  had  sent  to  Ken- 
tucky for  mounted  volunteers  while  awaiting 
190 


FIGHTING   THE   NORTHERN   SAVAGES 

• 

the  end  of  the  negotiations,  was  ready.  At  last, 
in  September,  1793,  General  Knox  wrote : 

"The  Indians  have  refused  to  treat  .  .  . 
every  offer  has  been  made  to  obtain  peace  by 
milder  terms  than  the  sword;  the  efforts  have 
failed  under  circumstances  which  leave  nothing 
for  us  to  expect  but  war,"  continuing  with  the 
oft  repeated  warning,  "Let  it  therefore  be 
again,  and  for  the  last  time,  impressed  deeply 
upon  your  mind,  that  as  little  as  possible  is  to 
be  hazarded,  that  your  force  is  fully  adequate  to 
the  object  you  purpose  to  effect,  and  that  a 
defeat  at  the  present  time,  and  under  the 
present  circumstances,  would  be  pernicious 
in  the  highest  degree  to  the  interests  of  our 
country. ' ' 

To  this  suggestion  General  Wayne  sent  a  for- 
cible reply :  "I  pray  you  not  to  permit  present 
appearances  to  cause  too  much  anxiety  either  in 
the  mind  of  the  President  or  yourself  on  account 
of  the  army.  Knowing  the  critical  situation  of 
our  infant  nation,  and  feeling  for  the  honor  and 
reputation  of  the  government  (which  I  will  de- 
fend with  my  latest  breath),  you  may  rest  as- 
191 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

snred  that  I  will  not  commit  the  Legion  unnec- 
essarily. ' ' 

Wayne  now  started  on  his  advance  into  the 
Indian  country.  On  October  7  he  left  "Hob- 
son's  Choice,"  as  he  called  his  camp  near  Cin- 
cinnati, with  his  legions  of  troops  on  the  march 
through  the  wilderness.  On  October  13,  he  en- 
camped on  a  spot  which  he  named  Greeneville, 
in  honor  of  his  old  friend  and  comrade,  Gen- 
eral Greene — a  post  six  miles  north  of  Fort  Jef- 
ferson and  eighty  miles  from  Cincinnati.  This 
place  he  fortified  for  his  winter  quarters,  and 
here  the  command  spent  several  months  cut 
off  from  all  communication  with  the  govern- 
ment at  Philadelphia,  and  surrounded  by  hostile 
savages.  There  were  frequent  encounters  with 
these  when  convoys  of  provisions  were  sur- 
prised and  their  escorts  murdered.  As  a  means 
of  giving  his  troops  experience,  on  December 
23,  Wayne  sent  several  companies  of  soldiers 
forward  to  the  battlefield  on  which  St.  Clair 
had  met  his  defeat  in  1791,  with  the  double  pur- 
pose of  burying  the  bones  of  their  comrades 
who  had  perished  there,  and  to  fortify  the  site. 
192 


FIGHTING   THE   NORTHERN   SAVAGES 

In  order  to  encourage  the  troops  who  were  or- 
dered to  this  service,  Wayne  personally  ad- 
vanced to  the  same  spot. 

After  the  erection  of  this  fort,  which  he 
named  "Fort  Recovery,"  General  Wayne  re- 
ceived some  overtures  of  peace  from  the  In- 
dians, to  whom,  although  he  had  no  faith  in 
their  professions,  he  expressed  himself  as  highly 
gratified  and  agreed  to  open  negotiations, 
only  asking  that,  as  proof  of  their  sincerity, 
they  should  deliver  to  him  the  captives  they 
had  taken.  This  was  never  done,  and  nothing 
more  was  heard  of  pacific  proposals.  On  the 
contrary,  the  situation  became  every  day  more 
difficult;  it  needed  the  exercise  of  the  widest 
vigilance  and  wisdom  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
mander of  our  army  and  the  utmost  loyalty  of 
his  followers.  With  the  impressment  of  Ameri- 
can seamen,  the  confiscation  of  our  cargoes, 
and  other  hostile  acts  of  the  English  thus  going 
on,  there  was  every  prospect  of  war  with  Great 
Britain.  Moreover,  the  British,  who  still  main- 
tained strong  garrisons  on  the  frontier,  built  a 
fort  at  the  foot  of  the  Maumee  Rapids  (Fort 
193 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

Miami),  which  the  Indians  believed  to  be  im- 
pregnable and  the  erection  of  which  no  doubt 
encouraged  them  to  hope  that,  in  case  of  battle, 
they  would  be  supported  by  tried  battalions  of 
English  allies. 

From  these  circumstances  it  may  be  seen  that 
General  Wayne's  position  was  such  that  one  in- 
judicious move  on  his  part  might  certainly  be 
the  means  of  bringing  on  a  second  war  with 
Great  Britain.  In  this  emergency  the  prudence 
of  his  conduct  was  such  that  at  last  he  obtained 
the  tardy  approbation  of  his  government.  A 
communication  from  the  Secretary  of  War, 
dated  March  31,  informed  him  that  the  way  in 
which  he  had  taken  a  position  on  the  scene  of 
General  St.  Glair's  defeat,  and  the  manner  in 
which  he  had  treated  the  false  peace  proposals 
of  the  hostile  red  men,  were  "highly  satisfac- 
tory and  exceedingly  proper."  The  secretary 
proceeded  to  say : 

"It  is  with  great  pleasure,  sir,  that  I  trans- 
mit to  you  the  approbation  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  for  your  conduct  generally, 
since  you  have  had  the  command,  and  more  par- 
194 


FIGHTING   THE   NORTHERN   SAVAGES 

ticularly,  for  the  judicious  military  formation 
of  your  troops ;  the  precautions  you  appear  to 
have  taken  in  your  advance,  in  your  fortified 
camp,  and  in  your  arrangements  for  a  full  and 
abundant  supply  of  provisions  on  hand" — a 
commendation  most  flattering  in  view  of  the  re- 
verses encountered  by  his  predecessors,  Har- 
mar  and  St.  Clair.  Later,  General  Knox  wrote : 

"If  therefore,  in  the  course  of  your  opera- 
tions against  the  Indian  enemy,  it  should  have 
become  necessary  to  dislodge  the  party  at  the 
rapids  of  the  Miami  (meaning  the  English  gar- 
rison), you  are  hereby  authorized  in  the  name 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  do  it." 

Thus  was  "Mad  Anthony"  Wayne  given 
power  to  conduct  the  war  according  to  his  sole 
discretion;  also  to  take  the  step  which  might 
have  led  to  war  with  England. 

Hostilities  opened  on  the  morning  of  June 
thirtieth,  1794,  when,  under  the  walls  of  Fort 
Recovery,  an  escort  under  Major  M'Mahan  was 
attacked  by  a  large  body  of  Indians  and  driven 
into  the  fort,  Major  M'Mahan  and  other  valued 
officers  losing  their  lives.  An  assault  was  then 
195 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

made  on  the  fort,  and  the  Indians,  who  were  re- 
pulsed with  heavy  loss,  gained  from  their  dis- 
comfiture some  degree  of  respect  for  the  new 
American  Commander-in- Chief  and  American 
arms.  About  the  middle  of  July  General  Wayne 
was  joined  by  a  strong  mounted  force  from 
Kentucky,  under  the  command  of  Major-Gen- 
eral  Scott.  He  now  judged  his  preparations 
complete  and  moved  up  to  the  English  garrison 
at  Fort  Miami.  Here  he  constructed  a  fortifi- 
cation at  the  junction  of  the  Le  Glaize  and  Mi- 
ami rivers,  which  he  appropriately  called  Fort 
Defiance.  Although  now  fully  prepared  to  strike 
the  blow  which  would  forever  settle  the  ques- 
tion of  supremacy  on  the  American  frontier, 
Wayne  made  one  more  attempt  to  secure  peace 
without  bloodshed,  and  sent  the  Indians  a  propo- 
sition by  a  special  flag.  Confident  of  the  assist- 
ance promised  by  their  white  allies,  and  secure 
in  their  own  prowess,  the  savages  rejected  all 
proposals,  and  one  of  the  most  memorable  In- 
dian battles  in  all  history  followed. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifteenth  of  August 
the  army  advanced  from  Fort  Defiance;  and 
196 


FIGHTING   THE   NORTHERN   SAVAGES 

on  the  eighteenth  arrived  at  Roche  de  Bout,  at 
the  head  of  the  rapids ;  they  camped  there  until 
the  nineteenth,  while  scouts  examined  the~en~ 
emy's  ground  and  small  fortifications.  On  the 
morning  of  the  twentieth  the  Americans  ad- 
vanced in  two  lines  through  a  thick  wood  ex- 
tending for  miles  on  every  side,  where  the  sav- 
ages lay  in  wait.  The  ground  of  the  forest  was 
covered  with  fallen  timbers,  the  aftermath  of 
a  tornado,  and  the  whole  situation  was  an  ideal 
one  for  the  foe.  In  a  location  such  as  this  the 
cavalry  were  practically  useless,  while  two  miles 
below  was  the  British  fort,  from  which  the  In- 
dians expected  help  in  extremity.  Five  or  six 
miles  below  the  camp,  Major  Price,  with  his 
advance  guard,  saw  Indians  and  charged.  Upon 
that,  the  enemy  in  full  force  in  the  midst  of  the 
tangled  tree  trunks  opened  a  galling  fire  that 
threw  the  Kentuckians  back  on  Wayne's  main 
army.  It  was  the  supreme  moment.  Wayne 
now  ordered  the  militia,  under  General  Scott, 
to  turn  the  enemy's  right,  and  the  dragoons 
of  the  Legion  to  cut  in  between  the  river  and 
the  enemy's  left.  At  the  same  time  the  line 
197 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

of  infantry,  900  strong,  with  bayonets  fixed, 
was  stretched  before  the  enemy 's  fighting  front ; 
while  a  second  line  was  placed  in  the  rear  as 
reserve  forces.  When  the  word  was  given  to 
charge,  every  man  leaped  forward,  yelling  with 
the  joy  of  the  fight;  they  bayoneted  the  red 
men  and  their  allies  behind  the  logs,  and  shot 
them  down  as  they  fled,  until  they  had  driven 
them  past  the  British  forts  (which  were  tightly 
closed)  and  scattered  them  in  the  wilderness. 
Thus  the  bayonet  charge  decided  the  fate  of  the 
battle  and  practically  ended  the  long  warfare  on 
the  frontier.  A  few  small  raids  were  after- 
wards made,  but  the  tribes  lost  hope  of  victory. 
In  this  engagement  the  American  loss  was  33 
killed,  and  100  wounded.  The  Indians  lost 
several  times  as  many.  The  army  now  returned 
to  Le  Glaize  by  easy  marches,  reaching  that 
post  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  August;  thence 
they  marched  to  Fort  Defiance  and  back  to 
Greeneville. 

Although  suffering  acutely  from  an  attack 
of  the  gout  on  the  morning  the  battle  began, 
General  Wayne  was  able  to  prevail  over  his 
198 


FIGHTING   THE   NORTHERN   SAVAGES 

physical  disability,  and  spent  much  of  the  next 
day,  with  his  staff,  in  reconnoitering  the  British 
fort,  thus  giving  great  offense  to  the  com- 
mander, Major  Campbell.  As  the  result  of  this 
incident  the  following  epistolary  exchange  of 
views  took  place : 

"Major  Campbell  to  General  Wayne. 

"Sir,— An  army  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  said  to  be  under  your  command,  have 
taken  post  on  the  banks  of  the  Miami  for  up- 
wards of  the  last  24  hours  almost  within  reach 
of  the  guns  of  this  fort,  being  a  post  belonging 
to  his  Majesty  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  oc- 
cupied by  his  Majesty's  troops,  and  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  command,  it  becomes  my  duty 
to  inform  myself  as  speedily  as  possible  in 
what  light  I  am  to  view  your  approach  to  this 
garrison.  I  have  no  hesitation,  on  my  part,  to 
say  that  I  know  of  no  war  existing  between 
Great  Britain  and  America. 

"I  have  the  honor,  etc.,  etc." 

Neither  did  General  Wayne  have  any  "hesita- 
tion," for  he  replied  to  this  effect: 
199 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

"Sir: — I  have  received  your  letter  of  this 
date,  requiring  from  me  the  motives  which  have 
moved  the  army  under  my  command  to  the  po- 
sition that  they  at  present  occupy  far  within 
the  acknowledged  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States. 

1  'Without  questioning  the  authority  or  the 
propriety  of  your  interrogatory,  I  think  I  may, 
without  breach  of  decorum,  observe  to  you  that 
you  are  entitled  to  an  answer.  The  most  full 
and  satisfactory  one  was  announced  to  you  from 
the  muzzles  of  my  small  arms  yesterday  morn- 
ing in  the  action  against  the  hordes  of  savages 
in  the  vicinity  of  your  post  which  terminated 
gloriously  to  the  American  arms,  but  had  it 
continued  until  the  Indians,  etc.,  were  driven 
under  the  influence  of  the  post  and  guns  you 
mention,  they  would  not  much  have  impeded 
the  progress  of  the  Victorious  Army  under  my 
command — as  no  such  post  was  established  at 
the  commencement  of  the  present  war  between 
the  Indians  and  the  United  States. " 


CHAPTER  XVH 

THE  GOVERNMENT  COMMISSIONER  AND 
CONCLUSION 

THE  importance  of  General  Anthony 
Wayne's  services  in  forcing  the  decisive 
battle  at  the  Falls  of  the  Miami,  which  resulted 
in  the  complete  subjugation  of  the  Indians  of 
the  Northwest,  cannot  be  overestimated.  He  is 
entitled  to  lasting  fame  and  to  the  enduring 
gratitude  of  the  millions  of  prosperous  people 
who  now  inhabit  the  fertile  lands  lying  between 
the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  rivers,  as  the  man 
who  opened  this  magnificent  domain  to  the 
home-seeker,  and  obtained  for  him  the  consti- 
tutional, and  actual,  right  to  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness  on  his  own  lands.  By 
the  brilliant  success  of  this  victory  over  the 
combined  tribes,  the  government  gained  im- 
measurably in  lands  and  in  power;  while  it 
was  still  more  far-reaching  in  aiding  the  Amer- 
ican ambassador,  John  Jay,  in  bringing  to  a 
201 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

reasonable  conclusion  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
he  was  negotiating  with  the  English  ministry 
in  regard  to  their  retention  of  garrisons  on 
American  soil.  The  news  of  this  battle  reach- 
ing London,  it  was  felt  that  all  hope  of  further 
aid  from  the  Indians  was  at  an  end,  and  orders 
were  given  for  the  evacuation  of  the  British 
forts  in  American  territory.  Also,  the  battle 
of  the  Miami  put  an  end  to  vexations  arising 
from  a  cherished  dream  of  the  Spanish  authori- 
ties that  their  dominion  in  America  might  some 
day  be  recovered.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten 
that  in  the  flush  of  victory,  the  factions  at  the 
national  capital  were  reconciled  for  a  season, 
and  the  stain  of  recent  defeats  wiped  from 
American  arms. 

On  September  14,  1794,  after  having  accom- 
plished his  purpose,  General  Wayne  and  his 
army  left  Fort  Defiance  and  returned  to  Greene- 
ville  for  winter  quarters.  Preliminary  articles 
were  entered  into,  January  1,  1795,  and  hos- 
tages left  with  General  Wayne  for  the  safe  de- 
livery of  prisoners  in  possession  of  the  Indians. 
Elated  at  the  victory  of  his  commander-in-chief, 
202 


'The  treaty  with  the  Indians." 


THE  GOVERNMENT  COMMISSIONER 

President  Washington  forthwith  issued  a  com- 
mission, appointing  General  Wayne  sole  com- 
missioner, with  full  powers  to  negotiate  and 
conclude  a  treaty  with  all  the  Indians  north  and 
west  of  the  Ohio.  In  these  negotiations  Gen- 
eral Wayne  displayed  the  same  wisdom  and 
prudence,  tempered  hy  humanity,  that  had  made 
him  conspicuous  as  a  military  leader.  He 
treated  the  chiefs  and  warriors  with  the  great- 
est courtesy  and  frankness ;  explained  to  them 
the  views  of  the  government,  and  just  what  it 
expected  of  them.  In  return  for  their  cession 
of  lands  they  received  $20,000  in  goods,  which 
were  distributed  among  the  Indians  present, 
while  another  annuity,  amounting  to  $9,500, 
was  granted  to  the  tribes  represented.  By  this 
straightforward  course  he  gained  their  confi- 
dence and  respect.  As  a  last  word,  he  told 
them  that  they  were  "children  and  no  longer 
brothers."  Definite  terms  of  peace  were  con- 
cluded on  August  17,  1795,  and  the  Indians  re- 
turned to  their  homes  well  pleased. 

The  treaty  of  Greeneville  also  met  the  warm 
approval  of  the  government,  for  by  its  terms 
203 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

a  vast  tract  of  territory  west  of  the  Ohio  and 
northwest  to  Detroit  was  ceded  to  the  United 
States.  The  lines  enclosing  the  Indian  territory 
were  drawn  from  Lake  Erie  along  the  Cuyahoga 
River  to  Portage,  hence  west  to  the  Maumee, 
down  that  river  to  the  lake  (Erie)  and  thence 
to  the  place  of  beginning.  Within  these  lines 
the  claim  of  the  Indians  to  territory  was  ac- 
knowledged, and  beyond  them  lay  the  land  of 
the  whites.  By  its  favorable  terms  the  treaty 
of  Greeneville  had  thus  procured  for  the  gov- 
ernment land  to  the  value  of  millions,  and,  what 
is  of  more,  importance,  a  peace  which  lasted  un- 
interruptedly for  seventeen  years. 

The  treaty  concluded,  General  Wayne,  who 
had  lived  in  the  wilderness  for  three  years,  prac- 
tically without  news  of  the  outside  world,  re- 
turned to  Pennsylvania.  His  progress  was  that 
of  a  conquering  hero.  On  his  approach  to  Phila- 
delphia all  business  was  suspended,  and  four 
miles  from  the  city  he  was  met  with  three 
troops  of  light  horse.  The  newspapers  of  the 
day  give  the  following  account :  "On  his  cross- 
ing the  Schuylkill  a  salute  of  15  cannon  was 
204 


THE  GOVERNMENT  COMMISSIONER 

fired  from  Centre  Square  by  a  party  of  artil- 
lery. He  was  ushered  into  the  city  by  the  ring- 
ing of  bells  and  other  demonstrations  of  joy, 
and  thousands  of  citizens  crowded  to  see  and 
welcome  the  return  of  their  brave  general, 
whom  they  attended  to  the  City  Tavern,  where 
he  alighted.  In  the  evening  a  display  of  fire- 
works was  exhibited. "  This  was  his  one  great 
day — when  all  men  acknowledged  the  worth  of 
his  work. 

President  Washington,  in  a  message  to  Con- 
gress, gratefully  acknowledged  the  exploits  of 
General  Wayne  and  the  vast  consequences 
likely  to  follow  them  and  an  attempt  was  made 
to  have  fitting  acknowledgments  made  in  the 
House  of  Representatives.  Again  party  jeal- 
ousy deprived  the  general  of  his  just  deserts, 
and  the  House  adopted  the  following  resolu- 
tion: 

"Resolved  Unanimously,  that  the  thanks  of 
this  House  be  given  to  the  brave  officers  and 
soldiers  of  the  Legion  under  the  orders  of  Gen- 
eral Wayne  for  their  prudence  and  bravery." 

During  the  winter  of  1796,  opposition  to  the 
205 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

enforcement  of  Jay's  treaty  had  become  so  vio- 
lent that  the  probable  refusal  of  Congress  to 
make  the  necessary  appropriations  for  carrying 
it  into  effect  led  to  the  belief  that  another  war 
with  Great  Britain  was  impending,  a  war  loudly 
demanded  by  the ' '  Jingoists ' '  of  that  day.  Since 
the  treaty  involved  the  right  of  the  English  to 
retain  their  fortifications  on  our  frontier,  and 
by  holding  that  vantage  ground  on  American 
territory  they  might  again  seek  the  alliance  of 
the  Indians  and  involve  the  Western  lands  in 
warfare,  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that 
the  articles  of  the  treaty  be  promptly  carried 
out.  On  April  30,  the  memorable  debate  on  this 
bill  was  concluded,  and  by  a  vote  of  51  to  48, 
the  House  decided  to  make  the  appropriation 
in  question,  and  orders  were  sent  to  the  British 
These  measures  had  been  taken  just  in  time, 
commanders  to  evacuate  their  forts, 
for  news  came  that  the  English  had  been  solicit- 
ing the  aid  of  the  Indians  for  a  new  campaign 
in  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  at  this  critical 
juncture,  General  Wayne  was  selected  as  the 
one  man  who  could  accomplish  the  delicate  and 
206 


THE  GOVERNMENT  COMMISSIONER 

hazardous  mission  of  taking  possession  of  the 
British  strongholds  in  the  name  of  the  United 
States  government.  One  writer  says:  "He 
knew  the  English  on  the  border,  with  their 
allies,  the  Indians,  and  they  knew  him.  More- 
over, the  man  who  had  won  the  territory  was  the 
one  to  whom  the  honor  of  receiving  it  was  due." 
Under  these  circumstances,  charged  with  full 
discretionary  powers,  General  Wayne  was  sent, 
in  June,  1796,  to  the  British  posts  at  Detroit, 
Michelimackinack,  Oswego,  and  Niagara.  On 
his  approach  the  Indians  at  once  became 
friendly ;  he  was  received  in  the  most  courteous 
manner  by  the  English  officers  in  command  of 
the  garrisons  of  the  different  forts;  and  in  no 
case  did  he  meet  any  obstacle  in  rendering  his 
last  great  service  to  his  country.  He  reached 
Detroit  in  September,  where  he  was  welcomd  by 
demonstrations  from  the  settlers  he  had  saved, 
and  the  red  men  who  had  been  his  foe.  After 
remaining  for  two  months  at  this  post,  on  the 
seventeenth  of  November,  he  sailed  from  De- 
troit for  Presqu'isle,  the  site  of  the  present  city 
of  Erie,  the  last  station  on  his  itinerary.  The 
207 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

day  before  lie  landed,  he  was  seized  with  a  vio- 
lent attack  of  gout,  and  was  taken  ashore  in 
a  dying  condition. 

He  was  at  once  removed  to  the  quarters  of 
the  commandant  of  the  post,  and  lay  for  many 
days  in  the  most  excruciating  agony.  Surgical 
skill  was  unable  to  reach  him,  and  at  last,  on 
December  15,  he  breathed  his  last  a  few  weeks 
before  his  fifty-second  birthday.  He  was  buried, 
according  to  his  wish,  at  the  foot  of  the  flag- 
staff on  a  high  hill,  called  Garrison  Hill,  north 
of  the  site  of  the  present  Soldiers'  Home.  In 
1809,  Colonel  Isaac  Wayne  caused  his  illustrious 
father's  remains  to  be  moved  and  interred  in 
the  family  burying  ground  attached  to  St.  Da- 
vid's Church,  at  Radnor — the  same  St.  David's 
a  writer  has  thus  beautifully  described: 

"As  a  place  of  worship,  its  location  is  essen- 
tially happy.  But  not  until  you  are  almost  upon 
it,  as  you  approach  it  is  the  unobtrusive  little 
sanctuary  seen,  peeping  from  among  the  trees 
which  conceal  it  from  view — thus,  as  it  were, 
shutting  out  the  world  and  all  those  cares  and 
208 


THE  GOVERNMENT  COMMISSIONER 

objects  not  in  unison  with  the  feeling  of  holy 
meditation.  .  .  .  There  is,  however,  in  the  yard, 
one,  at  least,  whose  name  fills  a  conspicuous 
place  in  the  page  of  his  nation's  history — a 
monument  more  enduring  than  brass.  The  in- 
dividual alluded  to  is  the  late  Major-General 
Anthony  Wayne. ' ' 

In  1876,  the  empty  grave  at  Erie  was  dis- 
covered, and  in  1879,  the  Legislature  of  Penn- 
sylvania appropriated  $1,500.00  for  the  erection 
of  a  suitable  monument  on  the  spot.  The  com- 
mittee on  erection  adopted  as  a  model  for  the 
monument  which  now  stands  at  Erie,  the  old 
block-house  in  which  the  hero  died.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  inscription  which  commemorates  his 
deeds: 

MAJOR-GENERAL 

ANTHONY  WAYNE 

BORN   AT   WAYNESBURGH 

IN    CHESTER    COUNTY 
STATE   OF   PENNSYLVANIA 

A.D.    1745 

AFTER  A  LIFE   OF   HONOR   AND   USEFULNESS 
HE  DEED  IN  1796, 

209 


THE  HERO  OF  STONY  POINT 

ON   THE   SHORES   OF   LAKE   EEIE 
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF   OF   THE  ARMY  OP 

THE   UNITED   STATES. 
HIS   MILITARY  ACHIEVEMENTS 

ARE   CONSECRATED 
IN   THE   HISTORY   OF   HIS   COUNTRYMEN. 

HIS  REMAINS 
ARE   HERE   DEPOSITED 

All  of  which  is  true ;  but  the  last  sentence  has 
caused  some  confusion  to  exist  as  to  his  final 
resting-place. 

Well  might  it  be  written  of  Anthony  Wayne 
as  was  written  of  a  great  explorer  and  inscribed 
on  his  tombstone, 

"He  was  a  man  who  cherished  a  task  for  its 
bigness  and  took  to  it  with  a  fierce  joy." 

(i) 


